


Calm Before The Storm

by madame en (mad_en)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Angst and Humor, Fluff, Multi, Post-Order of the Phoenix AU, Relationship(s), Summer Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-07 18:58:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 44,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7726012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mad_en/pseuds/madame%20en
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry's summer vacation after fifth year holds some surprises. Depressed after the death of Sirius and the events in the Ministry, Harry finally decides to try to return to some degree of normal life. He gets more than a little help from his friends. A little angst, a little fluff, a few laughs. This story was written prior to the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was actually written during the months leading up to the release of Book 6, back in the heady days of HP fandom when we had no idea what was to come. I am posting it here for sentimental reasons mainly-its current home is still available as a read-only archive, but could disappear at any time. Since we now know the end of the story, I assume this is considered AU. It was also written as a lighthearted bit of a break from the emotional roller coaster of Book 5. Cheers!

 

 

"Come in, Harry."

Harry stepped through the headmaster's door and nodded acknowledgement to the various quiet greetings from the portraits on the walls. _'Strange,'_ he thought, that they no longer feigned sleep whenever he came to see Dumbledore since that horrible night in the Ministry. He pushed the memory out of his mind and gave his attention to Dumbledore. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

 "Before you go for the summer holiday, I have a few things to discuss with you that I am sure you would rather not hear right now. I am afraid, however, that it is a necessity," Dumbledore said with a gentle smile. "Sit down, please."

 Harry dully pulled up a chair, and watched without much real interest one of the whirling objects on the desk, waiting for his Headmaster to continue. He was pleasantly surprised when Fawkes suddenly flew over from his perch to rest on the arm of Harry's chair. He gently stroked the bird's proffered head, and felt a wave of contentment flow over the numbness he had been carrying in his heart for the past few weeks.

 Dumbledore smiled at the phoenix before turning his attention to Harry. "You know you must return for at least part of your school holiday to your aunt's," he began, gazing at Harry steadily from over the top of his spectacles.

 Harry nodded in resigned acceptance, and Dumbledore continued. "Now, I have some news that perhaps will make this situation more…tolerable." He unfolded a roll of parchment from the pile on his desk. "This has been sent to me from Gringott's. It is Sirius' will."

 Harry started, his stomach lurched painfully, and he fought to choke back his angry exclamation on how this could possibly make his summer more tolerable. Fawkes trilled softly and Harry felt the anger melt away. Pale, but resolute, he nodded for Dumbledore to continue. He almost caught a gleam of approval in the old wizard's eyes.  _'Yes,'_  Harry thought sadly to himself,  _'I have learned something from all of this.'_

 "Sirius has left you his entire estate, with the exception of a legacy to Remus Lupin. You are the sole heir of the Black fortune, which has been frozen since Sirius' incarceration. In light of recent events, the Ministry has been persuaded to release control of it to you."

 "I don't want it!" Harry couldn't contain himself any longer. "I have money- I don't…." He stopped short; interrupted by a snort of outrage he realized had come from the portrait of Phineas Nigellus.

 Dumbledore regarded him quietly, and waited for Harry to resume his composure. "You must consider that this legacy is the final gift Sirius could make to you. At some point you may find that there is a great deal of good that you can do with that money- good that it has never been used for in its history."

 Harry considered this, and felt the knots in his stomach lessen a bit.

 "The estate includes Grimmauld Place, of course, and I would like to ask your permission for its continued service to the Order."

 Harry, shocked that this would even be a consideration, blurted out a choked "Of course!"

 "Good. I am pleased by your decision, because not only is it useful to our cause, but also because it is one of the few places outside Hogwarts and your aunt's that I feel you are relatively safe. As it remains unplottable, and with members of the Order in residence, I can almost rest easy on that score." He smiled gently at Harry. "This brings us to what I hope will be the most pleasant part of my news. While you must spend the first part of your holiday at Privet Drive, I will send a guard to escort you to Grimmauld Place sometime during the summer. There you will be under the care of your new guardian…"

 "New guardian?" Harry interrupted, anger again surging in his heart.

 "I believe that you will be very pleased to learn," Dumbledore continued, as if Harry had not even spoken, "that under the terms of your godfather's will Sirius has provided for your welfare in the event that he would not be able to care for you until you are of age." Dumbledore again looked at Harry from above his lenses. "I have the suspicion," he said in a kind voice, "that Sirius felt very keenly that his affairs should be in order so you would not be left as you were when he was thrown into Azkhaban. Of course he did not ever fully accept that it was imperative that you stay with your blood relatives even had he been free."

 A knock on the door interrupted him. "Ah, one moment, Harry. Enter," he called out, and the door swung open.

 Professor McGonagall hesitated at the door when she saw Harry. "I'm sorry, Albus, I didn't realize…"

 "No, that's quite all right, Minerva. I think Harry has had enough information for one afternoon." He turned his attention to Harry. "I will see you at the leaving feast, and please, remember what I have told you."

 Harry gave one final stroke to Fawkes, then got up and went out the door after nodding to McGonagall. He was down the staircase and past the statue before he realized Dumbledore had not told him how long he had to wait until he could get away from the Dursley's, or who his new guardian would be. He also realized that it didn't really matter to him. Nothing mattered to him.


	2. Postcards and Pies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trapped at the Dursley's for summer vacation, Harry finally has some contact with his friends during his annual isolation from the wizarding world...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The usual fanfic copyright disclaimers- everyone and everything in here belongs to J.K. Rowling, no money is being made and no infringement is implied. The story itself is mine. My thanks to my beta-reader, Beth, who had to slog through multiple copies of corrupt html.

Any other summer Harry would have been thrilled at the behavior of the Dursleys. Since the warning from Mr.Weasley, Lupin, Moody and Tonks on the platform when they picked him up, the Dursleys had _almost_ been civil to him. Of course they spent most of their time ignoring him, but at least he wasn't being yelled at. He had been allowed to watch the television news without comment, although he always heard a sigh of relief when he left after the day's important headlines were over.  He would have been slightly better fed than previous years, had he chosen to eat instead of just move the food morosely around on his plate.

If Harry caught looks of fear pass between his aunt and uncle whenever he was forced to be in their presence, such as at meals, he tried not to notice it. He had tried several times to question Aunt Petunia about what she knew regarding the wizarding world, but she had gone pale and silent. She now tried to spend as little time as possible alone with him. Dudley was openly alarmed by any sudden movement Harry made, and avoided him as much as possible. He spent most of his time out with his mates making trouble. All in all, they had pretty much left him alone, even Uncle Vernon, which was a vast improvement.

If it had been any other summer…but this summer all he felt the majority of the time was numbness. He spent the first weeks in a haze, and barely had to try and practice his occlumency, he felt so little emotion about anything. But sometimes he failed to close himself off, after all that had happened, and with Sirius gone….

No, he couldn't think about that. Harry lay on his bed listlessly. He had spent most of his time up here in his room, reading through the DADA books Sirius and Lupin had given him last Christmas. He even resorted to finishing his summer homework out of a need to keep busy- Hermione would have a heart attack if she knew. When all distractions failed, he spent the time just lying around and trying desperately not to think about how much he missed Sirius. He would just have to numb the rest of his feelings- he'd already learned to bury his guilt and anger under a veil of apathy. But the pain of his loss, that was proving even harder to release. He _had_ to learn though- he couldn't afford too many more nights like last night.

He had had another nightmare, and had gotten very little sleep because of it. The nightmares were always the same; not his parents dying, not Cedric dying, or Voldemort rising- no, now he dreamed about that awful night in the Ministry of Magic. He watched, helplessly, over and over again, as Sirius fell through the veil. He woke up some nights so hoarse that he knew he must have been screaming in his sleep, but none of the Dursleys ever said a word to him in the morning. Dudley had tried only once, but the taunts had died on his lips when Harry pointed his wand at him and declared that he really didn't care if he got expelled or not.

Frankly he thought that they stayed silent on purpose, both hoping and fearing that Voldemort had come for him at last, and that they would have been relieved to find him gone or dead in the night. The only good thing was that it was always the same dream, and he never seemed to see with anyone's eyes but his own.

He rolled over and glanced at today's edition of  _The Daily Prophet_  lying on the floor. He scanned it more carefully these days, and was at least relieved that it was no longer hushing up Voldermort's return; in fact it was full of articles verging sometimes on hysteria. But even that did not hold his interest long.

The only moment in the day that gave him any pleasure happened when he got the morning post. He had kept his promise to write to at least one person every three days, but his own letters he knew were feeble variations on the theme of "I'm fine." But the letters he received were what kept him sane.

The oddest bit of post so far had been a glossy postcard  _("Greetings from Sweden!)_  from Luna, who was spending her summer with her dad looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks:

 

_Dear Harry,_

_We have had no luck so far. We thought we spotted one from the ferry one day, but couldn't even get a snap. Several people have complimented me on my Swedish, although I am puzzled by why they keep handing me potatoes._

_See you at school,_

_Luna_

 

He had also received a rather lengthy letter from Neville, which sounded very similar to the way Neville spoke, sort of nervous and scattered.

 

_Dear Harry,_

_How is your summer going? I'm very sorry about what happened with your godfather. I asked my Gran about him. Once she knew the truth (which Ginny told me- she got the story from Ron- I hope you don't mind) my Gran was also very sorry and asked me to send you her condolences._

_Gran's a wonder sometimes. Just when I don't expect it, she surprises me. I thought for sure she would be furious about what happened at the Ministry. Instead, she seemed rather impressed. She marched me right down to Ollivander's for a new wand. I'm glad that I didn't go there when I was eleven- he would have terrified me. He stared at me for the longest time, disappeared into the back, and finally came back with the dustiest box you could imagine. I picked up the wand, and it was the oddest feeling- I felt almost as if I could use it properly- like I had some real power. Weird. Gold sparks shot out like mad, and Mr. Ollivander said something about 'the wand choosing the wizard,' which Gran said is nonsense that he says to make his money. Not that I'm glad I broke my dad's wand (Gran has the pieces in a case on the mantle now) but I'm glad that I have my own wand now. Does that make sense?_

_Anyway, I'm looking forward to the start of term for a change and to see what I can do with the new wand in the D.A. We aren't stopping, are we?_

_Sorry this is so long, and I hope you don't mind my writing. Ginny thought you wouldn't. Hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday- Gran is taking me away for a few weeks so don't worry about answering. I'll see you in September._

_Sincerely,_

_Neville Longbottom_

Harry had smiled at the formal closing, and was somehow pleased that Neville sounded a bit more confident about himself. A lot had happened that night in the Ministry, and if anything good came out of it that would be something.

This morning he had received a postcard from Hermione, who was now on holiday in New York with her parents. They had been horrified by the little information that she had told them of what had happened the previous term, and it had taken every ounce of determination Hermione had for them to allow her to return to Hogwarts in the fall. She had managed to persuade them, she wrote in a letter before she left, by explaining that without continuing her education she would be little better than defenseless, and that the danger would not lessen if she went to a different non-magic school. She was known to be a witch by those who might wish her harm, and she was safer by far at Hogwarts than anywhere else. They had finally given in, but had whisked her off as far away from London as they could for a few weeks. He picked up the card and glanced over it again:

 

_Dear Harry,_

_Having a wonderful time- it's amazing how many of "us" walk the streets here without even attempting to be discreet, as no one apparently pays a bit of attention.  We have been doing all the touristy things, but I long for home and news of, well, you know. Be careful and be good!_

_Love,_

_Hermione_

 

Harry smiled briefly and rolled over onto his back. He was lying on his bed half-dozing from the heat, when he spotted, through half-closed eyes, a small blur barreling through his window. Jumping up, he managed to catch Pig zooming around his room not unlike a snitch, and untied the package that was larger than the tiny bird. Pig gratefully hopped up to take a drink from Harry's water glass on the nightstand, as Hedwig was giving him a rather evil glare. Inside the wrapping paper he found several small mince pies, and a note from Ron. The pies smelled wonderful, and he popped one in his mouth without even realizing it as he read the enclosed letter.

_Harry,_

_Mum made these fresh this morning and says you need fattening up-she thinks you're much too skinny. I told her if you were fat you wouldn't be able to play Seeker anymore and would have to be the Quaffle, but she didn't like my joke. Actually, it's not much of a joke, is it? I am bored out of my mind- No one is here but Ginny, and Hermione had the nerve to go off with her parents to New York!! I mean, honestly, what'd she have to go and do that for? F & G are out most of the day and night, apparating all over the place. They apparated right on my bed the other night- scared me half to death! I can't wait until we learn that. They told me to let their "silent partner" (Ha!) know the shop is going well. I don't have anything, you know, *important* to pass along, not that I would be able to, but I just wanted you to know it's not like last summer so you don't have to go all ballistic on me when you come to visit. At least I hope you'll be able to come- haven't heard any word on that either- sorry mate. Guess you're stuck with Duddikins for a bit more. Has he exploded or anything?_

This was followed by a large ink spot, and Harry grinned as he read the next line

_Bloody hell!! Stupid Ginny just set off an F &G special right behind me-will I get no peace in this house? Mental, all my relatives are! It's a wonder I'm sane. Ginny now says I have to say "Hi" to you-wait a minute- she can do it herself, I have to go get the ink off my hands._

 

Harry continued on with interest- he had never had a proper note from Ginny before. He was glad that she had stopped being so shy around him this year. She was rather funny when he finally heard her speak in normal conversation.

After several more thumbprints and ink splotches, the handwriting changed to Ginny's much neater script:

 

_Hi Harry,_

_How is your holiday going so far? I'm sure it's not the best summer you have ever had, and I just wanted to let you know we are thinking of you and hoping you can come here soon. You need to come save me from Ron- he is driving me mad! All he's been doing since he got Hermione's post is pacing and mumbling to himself. And he calls us mental. Sorry about the mess on the letter, but if you could have seen the way he jumped up and spilt the ink all over you would be laughing as hard as I am right now and I'm sure it would cheer you up. Wish I had a camera to send you a snap of it. Well, take care, and we will hopefully see you soon._

_~Ginny_

The script returned to Ron's scrawl:

 

_Don't believe a word she says, mate- she's a nutter. I'd rewrite this and get rid of her lies, but I'm too lazy to dig out more parchment. Send Hedwig round with any news- I need to hear from someone who is sane and not lording it over about being off on holiday somewhere posh and meeting bloody smooth American wizards. By the way, have you heard from Moony at all?_

_~Ron_

 

Harry sighed. Neither gave any hint of what was happening within the Order, and he couldn’t even muster the indignation that he felt sure he should that he was being kept out of the loop. It seemed that they weren't much in the loop either this summer, especially if Ron was asking him about Lupin. Harry had thought it odd that he hadn't heard from his old professor, as Lupin had been the one to say, "Keep in touch," but at least he knew that he was out of touch with everyone. He wasn't sure now whether he should be worried about that or not. He buried that thought away just as he did with all the other thoughts that worried him.

He reread the letter again, smiling at Ginny's section. He had a bit of a start, though, as he re-read the part about her "thinking of him." For some reason, his stomach felt odd. Chalking it up to hunger, he took another bite of a pie and chewed thoughtfully.

Ginny had been a big help last year when he was so upset and feeling responsible for  Mr.Weasley's attack. Especially considering the fact that it was _her_ father Harry thought he had attacked. She had also fought very bravely that night in the Ministry, insisting that she be allowed to help. It struck him anew that she was the only other person he knew who had had such close experience with Voldemort and survived, and that thought made him uneasy. Had he ever thanked her for making him see it wasn't his fault?

For the first time in days he actually felt something other than numb. _'What if I never thanked her? Did I? I can't remember,'_ Harry thought frantically to himself, pulling open his desk drawer for some fresh parchment and a quill. He had no idea why it was so important for him to thank her now, but he felt compelled to send her a note so she wouldn't think he didn't appreciate, er, well, _whatever_.

He sucked on the end of his quill, trying to think of what to write.

 

_Dear Ginny,_

_Hi. How are you?_

_I wasn't sure if I ever apologized to you for being a prat last summer. You were right- you of all people were the only person who knew what it was like, and I'm sorry. Also I'm sorry for being a prat in the forest as well._

He paused for a moment, realizing he was rambling, but not knowing how to fix it, he sighed and struggled on.

 

_Hope your summer is going okay. Ron sounds like he's truly getting mental. Too bad you have to deal with him by yourself, but it sounds like you are handling it pretty well. If I get there before school you will have to get him again, just so I can see his reaction, heh!_

_~Harry_

_p.s.- I just re-read this, and it's a good thing Ron was there both times, or the above wouldn't sound too good, heh, heh. Hmm…not sure if that sounds any better. ~H_

_p.s.p.s.- Please thank your Mum for the pies- they are delicious and remind me of ~~home~~ , I mean your house. ~H_

 

He re-read it again, and, deciding it was stupid, was about to crumple it up. Instead, he found that he had rolled it up and sealed it. Calling Pig over before he lost his nerve, he tied it to the little bird's leg and told him, "Bring this to Ginny-  _not to Ron_ \- to Ginny. You got that?" he asked the little owl, trying to make a strong mental picture of Ginny in his head to help the silly bird.

Pig hooted happily and zoomed off into the darkening sky before Harry realized he was gone. He was still picturing Ginny, and his stomach gave another funny lurch as the image of her sitting on the train reading  _The Quibbler_  became more vivid in his mind. He could see the way the sunlight had gilded her red curtain of hair, and the way she bit her lip while studying the quiz questions in the magazine. He shook his head, absently chewing on the last of the pies, and wondered why he had such perfect recall of that moment.


	3. Adventures in Muggle-land

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry makes an effort to try and break out of his depression, and gets a helping hand from an unexpected source

Harry woke up the next morning feeling strangely rested. He got up, showered and took a good long look at himself in the bathroom mirror. The face that stared back at him was almost gaunt, paler than usual, and dominated by darkly shadowed eyes. Dudley's old clothes were now so big on him that he could barely keep the jeans up with his school belt. "I look like hell," he said to his reflection, which, being a muggle mirror, made no comment.

Harry suddenly realized that he needed to try and go on with some semblance of a normal life. Being miserable would not bring Sirius back, nor would it change the fate the prophecy had laid before him. The time would come when he would once again face Voldemort, and it would do him no good to waste away like this until that time. If his life was on a deadline, then he was going to try to enjoy what he could while he had the chance. After all, his parents, Sirius, and all the others who had lived during the last war had not put their lives on hold-they had tried to grab as much happiness as they could.

Tomorrow was his birthday, and he would start the new year by going to buy himself some presents for a change. "I need to get the hell out of this house," he said to himself, and went back to his room to get a few things before heading out.

 

**************************************

 

He found Aunt Petunia nervously pacing at the foot of the stairs, as if waiting for him to come down.

"Yes?" he asked quietly, surprised that she wasn't avoiding him as usual.

Her lips were in a tight thin line; she looked as though she was working up her nerve, and finally blurted out, "Mrs. Jennings and Mrs. Hurst are coming over for luncheon today…"

"Don't worry," he interrupted, "I'm going out. I won't be back until dinner."

"Fine," she breathed, obviously relieved that she was not going to have to worry about her pudding suddenly levitating or one of her guests exploding. She backed up and let Harry pass into the kitchen.

He realized that he must have slept late enough to miss both Dudley and Uncle Vernon, which improved his mood to no end. He made himself a quick breakfast of juice and toast, and was out the door into the late morning sun without Aunt Petunia ever returning to the kitchen to inquire where he was going.

"Things really have changed," he thought with a tight grin. He felt his pocket, making sure that he had the money Hermione exchanged for him at Gringotts and had owled before she left on holiday. She had called him on the phone to ask him if he needed anything at Diagon Alley, as she was going there to pick up  _40 Galleons a Day: A Wizard's Guide to New York_  for her trip.  He'd had a vague notion at the time that it would be wise not to be stranded again without any Muggle money as he had been in summers past. It had been far easier for him to ask her than to ask the Weasleys, as she was used to arguing the currency rates with the goblins. She had sent it back without questioning why he wanted it, but he expected that note about "being good" on her postcard might have been referring to it. He had left it forgotten in the loose floorboard under his bed until this morning.

Harry started off down the drive when he was startled by a crash by the trash bins. His hand went automatically to retrieve his wand from his pocket, and he peered cautiously, heart pounding, around the corner of the house. Seeing nothing, he started to relax when it suddenly occurred to him that he was probably still under surveillance by the Order. He had barely been out of the house for the last few weeks, and he had not even given it a thought before.

"Who's there?" he called out quietly. When the second trash bin unexpectedly fell over, the cover noisily rolling down the drive, he grinned. "Tonks?"

A bright blue mohawk suddenly appeared from thin air."Wotcher, Harry!" she grinned back sheepishly. "How'd you know it was me?"

"I just had a feeling," he replied, looking at the upended bin rolling back and forth.

She followed his gaze and laughed. "Too right! You know me- always in trouble. Startled me, you did- coming out of the house. Where are you off to? We were beginning to think you were planning on hibernating in that house all summer."

She hadn't yet pulled off the cloak, and Harry found it vaguely disconcerting to try and have a normal conversation with her floating head. He motioned her behind the back of the house, and her head followed. "You might want not want to be seen like that," he said quietly.

"True, Ol' Figgy will be reporting me next. Actually I'm not supposed to be seen at all." She pulled off the invisibility cloak and stuffed it in her rucksack. "But you never answered my question- where are you off to?"

"Oh, well, I thought I'd better do something about getting some clothes that fit," he replied, glancing down at his worn trainers, too short and baggy jeans and overlarge T-shirt.

"Good idea- you're starting to rival Mundungus in the apparel department," she laughed.

Harry noticed she was wearing her Weird Sisters tee, rolled up cargo trousers, a low-slung studded leather belt and high-top trainers. He grinned. She would pass with no problem in a crowd of muggles. He had a sudden thought.

"Listen, since you're already visible and all, why don't you come along with me? This isn't actually my best subject- I could use some help."

She appeared to consider this, duty warring with her sense of fun. "Well, it's not like I'm abandoning my post," she said almost to herself.

"I mean, you can be my bodyguard visible just as well as invisible, right?" Harry grinned at her.

She seemed to make a snap decision. "Right! We're off! Obviously you need someone with a good sense of fashion for this mission," she said very seriously, and Harry smiled again.

"You know, " Tonks remarked, as they walked (well, Harry walked; Tonks sort of bounced) down the drive, "That's the third time you've smiled today. That's a great improvement."

Harry looked down and reddened slightly. Tonks took his arm and continued on. Her tone was suddenly serious. "Life is for living, Harry. You know that's how  _he_  felt- otherwise he wouldn't have been so frantic being locked up in Grimmauld Place. Padfoot wouldn't want you miserable all the time on his account." She gave his arm a squeeze.

Harry suddenly remembered that he wasn't the only one who missed Sirius- after all Tonks was his cousin- the only family he had loved. He also remembered Ron's note.

"Tonks?" Harry began, "Have you seen Professor Lupin at all?"

"On and off, yes. He's been very busy for Dumbledore."

Harry knew she couldn't say much else, but persisted anyway. "Is he all right? I mean, it's got to be really hard on him too, being the last of the Marauders and all. Well,  _almost_  the last," he added as an afterthought.

Tonks appeared to be surveying the neighborhood as they walked down to the commercial district. Harry had the irrepressible thought of Moody's  _'Constant Vigilence!'_  warning. When she finally spoke, her tone was subdued.

"He seemed a bit better when I last saw him. I think he was a bit of a mess at first, like you."

Harry's head swung around, but he realized she was right and bit back his retort.

She suddenly brightened up, and changed the subject abruptly. "I haven't been in Muggle shops in ages- this is going to be fun. Where to first? Ooh! Look- a music shop!"

"I really only came for clothes," Harry began, as she pulled him across the street.

"Nonsense- it'll do you some good. Come on!"

"I don't even have a system," he protested.

"Well, we'll pick you up one of those portable things and with a little _discrete_ tinkering, you can bring it to school as well. "Come on."

Harry slowly smiled. _'After all, it is my birthday,'_ he thought. He had never been able to touch any of Dudley's things unless they were damaged. The thought of buying some things of his own, now that he knew Dudley was afraid of him and wouldn't touch them lightened his spirits.

They spent an hour or so in the shop, and Tonks had helped him pick out some good music. She had also been chatting up Ned, the guy who worked there who had asked about the Weird Sisters. "Indie-band from Wales," she deadpanned. They rang up Harry's purchases, and headed back on to the sidewalk.

"Now where to?" he asked, seeing as she had apparently placed herself in charge of this expedition. "I'm not really too familiar with the shops. Aunt Petunia does most of Duddy's shopping in the 'big man's' shop nowadays. Somehow I doubt I need go there," he smirked.

"Too right!" she laughed. "I asked Ned- cute, he was, I might have to go back there on my day off- where a likely shop was and he said down this way."

Harry squirmed a bit, realizing that Tonks and Ned's fashion sense didn't exactly match his own (Ned having sported several earrings and a lot of leather.) Then again, he had no desire to go to any of the shops his Aunt Petunia frequented for Duddy. He followed her lead, and listened quietly while she kept up a constant stream of chatter about music.

"You really need a wizard wireless, as well," she began, "So you can keep up with who's hot in _our_ …Ooh! Look! Ice cream- I'm starved!" she exclaimed midstream.

She pulled him into the shop, and he was startled to see Dudley and a few of his gang at the counter. Dudley looked even more surprised. Obviously taken aback at the fact that first, Harry had actually left the house, and again when he realized Harry was with Tonks.

"What're you doing here?" he blurted out.

"I could ask you the same question," Harry shot back coolly, "seeing as you're supposed to be on some kind of training diet, right?"

Dudley turned red as his mates smirked. When he glared at them, they cleared their expressions. Trying not to lose his cool in front of them, he flicked his head in Tonk's direction. "Who's she?"

Tonks had been appraising him with a slight smile on her face, and Harry, knowing that she was debating which hex to try on him, spoke up.

"I met her at school- you know, St. Brutus's?"

Tonk's glanced quickly at him, eyebrows raised.

Reminded of the fact that Harry supposedly went to a reform school for teenage criminals, Dudley's mates shifted slightly, glancing somewhat nervously at Tonk's mohawk. Tonk's fingers were twitching perilously close to the end of her wand sticking out from the thigh pocket of her cargo pants.

Dudley, seeing her movement, suddenly realized what she must be, and seemed to decide that antagonizing Harry in front of his friends was a bad idea. He pushed past them quickly. "Come on, mates," he called to his gang, and they followed him out, glancing back with curiosity as

Tonks waved.

"Buh-bye, boys!" she called out laughingly. She turned back to Harry. "St. Brutus?" she asked, eyebrow raised again.

"Didn't you know," he smirked back at her, "that I go to St. Brutus's School for Incurably Criminal Boys?"

She burst out laughing. "And I thought you were such a  _nice_  boy," she finally managed. "No wonder they looked about to wet themselves- probably thought I was going to attack them. Not that I wouldn't mind giving that cousin of yours a good swift curse," she added, glancing out the window in the direction they had gone.

"Come on," Harry grinned, "I'll buy you an ice cream."

 

 **************************************

 

When they had finished, they headed for the store Ned had mentioned, and Harry looked dubiously in the window.

Tonks, as if reading his mind, said, "I told Ned that you were still at school, and needed new stuff. He said they have normal clothes here as well."

They spent the rest of Harry's money in there, not only getting him clothes but a very cool pair of lug-sole shoes that he could get away with his Hogwarts's uniform. It would be a nice change to have a pair of shoes that didn't flop open at the soles. He was mortified that Tonks kept making him try things on, but was pleasantly surprised when the girl behind the counter looked approvingly at his choices and chatted him up in a flirty sort of way.

As they walked up Privet Drive later that afternoon, Harry felt like a new person. He realized that for the first time in ages he had actually not worried about anything other than what a normal teenage boy would.

"Thanks, Tonks," he said quietly.

"For what?" she asked, surprise in her voice.

"Just for, er… well, for today. I really feel a bit better, you know…" he trailed off, not quite sure how to explain.

She caught his drift, and looped her arm in his conspiratorially. "No problem. Anytime, mate," she grinned. Her grin suddenly froze as they came around the house for Harry to use the back door. Mad-Eye Moody had suddenly appeared having apparently thrown back his invisibility cloak.

"Where the hell have you been?!! What do you think you were doing? Out in public??!! Putting Harry out where he's not protected…" he rounded off at her, and she blinked back at him, unable to form a protest.

Harry glared at him, rushing to her defense. "She  _was_  protecting me- I was never out of her sight! Sheesh! I'm not a child, and Tonks  _was_  being very  _vigilant_ ," he spat out before Moody could raise another protest.

"Not leaving any word, and late back for shift change, honestly," Moody growled, lowering his voice, "I'm appalled. And you, supposedly an auror!" Tonks ducked her head, turning red.

Harry was furious. This had been the first good day he had in a long time, and he wasn't about to have it ruined. "She didn't do anything wrong- it was my fault. I insisted on going out, and would have with or without her. When she protested I  _made_  her come along. She was only doing her job!"

Tonks looked startled at the cool way he lied to Moody. Moody obviously decided this was not the place for a row, and backed down a bit.

"Give us your cloak, then," he said to Tonks, and she dug it out of her bag and handed it over.

"I'll just go and fetch Dung- it's his post, and he's the one that called me in when he couldn't find either of you. You wait here until he arrives," he glared at her again. "This isn't over yet, young woman!" With a loud  _crack!_   he disappeared, and Tonks and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry that I got you in trouble," Harry began.

Tonks cut him off. "Ah, he'll cool down…eventually. He was right though, I never thought we'd be gone long enough that I needed to leave word. I guess he'll have me on the midnight shifts from now on," she continued morosely. The she glanced up at Harry with a quick smile. "It was worth it, though, to see ol' Duddy practically pee in his pants."

"Yeah, I had a really good time today," Harry grinned back at her. "Really. Thanks again- I mean it."

"No problem. Oh, there's old Dung now," as they heard another loud  _crack!_

"All right there, Tonks?" they heard a disembodied voice call out.

_"_ Righto, Dung" she called back _._ She handed Harry the bag she had been holding for him, and gave a jaunty wave. "I'll be seeing ya, Harry, even if you won't be seeing me." With another loud  _crack!_  she was gone.

Harry waved in the general direction of Mundungus' voice and carried his bags inside the house, humming the birthday song softly to himself.

 


	4. A Day of Surprises

Harry glanced at his new watch (waterproof, this time) and paced over to the window. He rested his elbows on the open sill, enjoying the slight breeze, and gazed out into the Dursely's front garden, which was flooded with bright light from the full moon. He checked his wrist again, counting along as the seconds ticked down the hour. When midnight struck, he smiled to himself.

_'Happy Birthday to me,'_  he thought. Just then, from the shadows under the tree in the yard, he caught a quick burst of pink sparks, and knew that Tonks had pulled a punishment double-shift. He grinned, gave a quick salute in that direction, and went back to his bed before he risked getting her into more trouble.

He lay down on the bed, and thought about previous birthdays. He glanced over at his beloved Firebolt, remembering that Sirius had told him it was 13 years of presents owed. His chest tightened up again at the thought that this was yet another birthday he had not been able to share with his godfather, or his parents for that matter, and he closed his eyes against the pain.

_'Don't think about it,'_  he silently reminded himself. He was determined to master his occlumency lessons now, to try to atone for the arrogance that had cost Sirius his life. He would not let his death be in vain, and if all he could do now was to keep Voldemort out of his head, then that's what he was going to do. He breathed slowly in and out, and tried to empty his mind. When sleep finally overtook him, it was dreamless.

 

 *****************

 

When he woke the next morning, Harry decided he would wear some of his new things, and emptied his shopping bags onto his bed. He noticed a small bag at the bottom of the shopping bag which looked unfamiliar, and pulled it out.

"What the…?" he said, shocked.

In the bag was a collection of the most ridiculous looking boxer shorts he had ever seen: wacky prints in everything from red hearts to holiday motifs. He was sure that someone else's purchase had ended up in his shopping bag when he noticed a note scrawled on a piece of register receipt tape.

 

_Harry,_

_I've decided that you have enough somber things in life to deal with. Underwear should not be one of them. You need to smile more, and not always take yourself so seriously.  Padfoot would approve._

_Happy Birthday,_

_Tonks_

_p.s.- I will be checking periodically to make sure these do not stay in  the bottom of your trunk, so beware!_

 

Harry was alarmed at the prospect of wearing any of the shorts, which looked as if they had come from Fred or George's wardrobe, but he was even more alarmed at Tonks' threat of checking up on him. Sifting through the pile though, he began to laugh. Sirius probably would have thought Tonks' present was hysterical. He pulled out a pair printed with dancing hula girls, grabbed a new pair of jeans and a shirt and went off to shower and get dressed.

By the time he had gotten downstairs, Uncle Vernon and Dudley were just finishing up, and Aunt Petunia was fussing at the sink.

Uncle Vernon glanced up briefly from behind his papers, but Dudley, feeling relatively safe with both parents in the room, reverted back to his cocky self. "So, who's your girlfriend, Potter?" he asked brashly, grinning as his remark caught both his father's and mother's attention.

Harry, in too good a mood to be baited, replied easily. "She's just a friend, actually, Duddy."

"Well she was a right sight with that hair," he said, emphasizing his words for effect, "It was blue!"

Harry's aunt and uncle both turned to him with horrified expressions. "Were you seen with one of those…those… _freak_ friends in public?" Uncle Vernon finally sputtered. Aunt Petunia's face had gone ashen.

"What if someone we know saw you," she whispered, horrified.

Harry smirked. "The only people who saw me that know me were Duddy and his little gang."

Dudley, feeling braver still, turned to his father. "She looked like a…."

Harry interrupted him, his voice dangerously low and surprisingly calm. "I wouldn't finish that sentence, Dudster," he warned. "She's an auror, you know, and I doubt she'd appreciate whatever you were about to call her."

"A what?" his uncle burst out. "An author?" Dudley laughed.

"No," Harry replied, calmly buttering his toast. "An auror- it's kind of like being a…," he struggled how to explain it them, then, with an evil grin, decided on "hit-wizard."

All three faces blanched, and Dudley choked on the cake he had snuck whole into his mouth.

"By the way, did you enjoy your ice cream?" Harry asked him, all pretend politeness.

"Duddikins!" his aunt exclaimed.

"Were you out at the sweet shop again?" Uncle Vernon cried, his attention on his son now. "You know what the doctor said, and your coach," his voice almost stern.

Harry grinned, this was going better than expected. He had not only shot down Dudley, but got him in trouble as well. This was turning into a very good birthday indeed.

Dudley looked daggers at Harry, but kept his mouth shut and soon left the table in a huff. Uncle Vernon looked at Harry with narrowed eyes, but also kept quiet and went back to his paper. Aunt Petunia finished clearing up Dudley's mess, pretending to ignore Harry. He made sure his hand was usually in her way as she tried to remove items from the table, just to be annoying.

Finally she gave up, and, removing her apron announced, "We are going out for the day to visit with Aunt Marge. She tripped over one of her dogs last week and is just home from hospital. I trust that you can behave while we are gone," she said, as she hurried out of the kitchen.

Uncle Vernon looked up from his paper. "Stay in the house," he spat out, "and none of  _those people_  are allowed…" he trailed off as Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

"Actually, Mad-Eye Moody, you remember him, said he might pop in today," he said conversationally.

Uncle Vernon paled again, and got up from the table muttering angrily under his breath.

_'Oh yes,'_  Harry thought, finishing his tea,  _'this is working out to be the best day of the entire summer.'_

 

********************

 

After they had gone, not daring to give him any warnings about staying in his room, let alone locking him in, Harry wandered the house a bit, relishing his freedom from them, if only for a few hours. He thought about calling Hermione on the phone; then remembered she was still on holiday. He couldn't call Ron, as the Weasleys' had no 'fellytone' as they insisted on calling it. He couldn't even owl him as Hedwig had gone off to hunt last night and had not yet returned.

He was just about to turn on the television when he heard a knock at the door.  _'That's odd,'_  he thought, no one ever called spontaneously at the Dursleys', it  _"just wasn't done,"_ according to his aunt.

He hoped it wasn't Dudley returning because he forgot something while Uncle Vernon sat waiting in the car.  _'I knew it was too good to be true,'_  he thought, disappointed.

He was stunned when he opened the front door to see who was standing on the threshold.

"Professor Lupin!"

"Remus, please, Harry," he responded softly. "I haven't been your teacher for several years now, and I would much rather that you consider me as your friend." He extended his hand, which Harry gratefully clasped. "I thought I'd use the front door," he said with a grin. "I understand your fireplace isn't quite floo-worthy."

Harry suddenly remembered his manners. "Come in," he said quickly. Remus paused on the threshold.

"I suppose we should really follow the formalities so you know it's really me and Moody doesn't have my hide.  Ask me something only I would know."

Harry, taken aback, drew a complete blank for a moment while Remus stood patiently waiting.

"Um, " he finally stammered, "how do you get to Honeydukes from Hogwarts?"

Remus laughed. "I suppose you mean the tunnel entrance. Ah, let me think. That would be behind the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor. The password is  _Dissendium_."

Harrygrinned and motioned Remus in. Remus gave him a rather evil smile, and said casually, "You know of course, that Peter would have that same information."

Harry's heart thumped in panic, and Remus, seeing his reaction, added quietly, "But I also know that you and Sirius and I had a conversation a few months back about what you saw in Snape's pensieve, and I doubt there is anyone else who would know that." He smiled his quiet smile again, walked in and turned suddenly, adding, " _Constant Vigilance_ , Harry!"

Harry had to laugh as his heart quit pounding. "I'll have to work on that I see," he said shakily, as he shut the door behind Remus.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Harry asked, still astonished that Remus was standing, in broad daylight in his aunt's lounge, looking around with some interest.  "I mean, it's great to see you- the only person I've seen all summer is Tonks…."

"And she was thoroughly told off by Moody for revealing herself to you," Remus interrupted with a smile.

"It was my fault," Harry began, "I mean, I know that I'm being watched, and I figured she could just as well follow me around visible as invisible."

Remus's grin briefly grew broader, before he became serious once more. "I know it's been hard on you, Harry, and for that I am sorry."

Harry looked more carefully at his old professor, and was startled at how gaunt and tired he looked, before he realized that it was only a day after the full moon, and Remus was probably not in very good shape. His thoughts were interrupted when Remus spoke again.

"I'm also sorry that I didn't get a chance to speak to Dumbledore before we met you at the station that day. Which brings me to why I am here."

Remus sat down on the couch, and motioned to Harry to the chair opposite. Harry, who rarely was allowed to sit on the 'good' lounge furniture, hesitated momentarily before laughing to himself as he plopped down comfortably. Remus eyed him quizzically, but didn't question him.

"When I met you on the train I had just come from…let's say…some business…for the Order. I'd been out of touch, and didn't get a chance to speak to Dumbledore until much later." He paused, picking up and turning over a small decorative cigarette lighter that had been on the coffee table in between them. Flicking the switch, he smiled at the tiny flame, muttering, "Arthur would love this."

Harry made a mental note to buy one for Mr. Weasley as a Christmas present.

"There were quite a few matters that needed to be attended to, so it was weeks before Dumbledore had time to ask me up to see him at Hogwarts.  I have to say I was very surprised to learn about Sirius's will," he said softly, watching Harry for his reaction. Harry felt his insides turn cold at the mention of his godfather's name, but realized the pain it must be causing Remus as well, and nodded for him to continue.

"I know Dumbledore told you about the inheritance," he said quietly, "but I understand that he never got around to explaining the terms of guardianship." He paused, and Harry nodded confirmation. "Sirius naturally was concerned that should anything happen to him before you came of age, you would be left totally in the control of your aunt and uncle, without legal representation in  _our_  world. So he asked me to take over your guardianship should something happen," he finished softly, still looking closely at Harry as if to gauge his reaction.

Harry sat there, stunned. It made perfect sense, of course. Lupin was Sirius' and his father's closest friend. "Well, that's a relief," he finally managed, grinning.

"I'm glad you feel that way," Remus grinned back, obviously relieved himself, before his face went serious again. "I never expected to actually be in this position," he added, sadly. "I'm afraid it really doesn't mean that much, as you know you must always return here until you are of age."

Harry nodded acceptance. "Well, that's really only one more year, and things have been a bit better around here since your little talk with my uncle at the station." He suddenly smiled, trying to put the older man at ease. "I imagine you can at least sign me out for Hogsmeade weekends."

Remus laughed at that. "The least I can do, actually. What I can also do today, though, is get you out of here."

Harry sighed with relief. "The Burrow?" he asked hopefully.

"Ah, no." Lupin looked chagrined. "Dumbledore only authorized you to come to Grimmauld Place. If you think it's too soon," he added, with a worried expression on his face, "I'll completely understand, but frankly I could use the company."

Harry's chest tightened again, thinking of the dark, gloomy house that Sirius had so hated. "No. It's all right. I'd rather be there than here. I need to…to deal with it at some point I suppose."

"You're a strong person, Harry," Lupin said kindly. "I know Sirius was very proud of you."

"Remus?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"I was wondering-do Bellatrix Lestrange and the Malfoys know where Grimmauld Place is? I mean, I know it's unplottable, but they _are_ family, and now that Bellatrix is free…"

"A reasonable question," Remus replied. "No, they might have been there in the past, but Sirius once told me the Blacks were very paranoid, even within their own family. From what I understand, they only sent port keys to relatives to visit. Plus the floo cannot be used without an address as well, and only the immediate family knew the address." He paused, thoughtfully. "Of course, Sirius was estranged from his family for many years, yet I don't think they would have changed their policy- especially after his father's death. No, I think Grimmauld Place is reasonably safe. Still, we have to be very careful."

Harry nodded, satisfied for now. "Shall I go pack my things, then?"

"Lead on, and I'll help you, shall I? We are on a time schedule, I'm afraid," Remus replied. Harry nodded and they headed up the stairs.

"Do we have to go with the full guard and all this time?" Harry asked, as he started tossing things into his trunk. He shuddered, remembering the long, cold broom ride to London.

Remus had been looking out the window, and Harry suspected that he was watching for a sign from someone.

"No, actually, this time I have a port key from Dumbledore. Apparently he needs no authorization to create them nowadays. He thought it safer this way." He came away from the window, and took down Hedwig's cage from on top of the cupboard. "I think we'd better leave your aunt a note- do you have any parchment?"

Harry retrieved it from his trunk, along with a quill and Remus sat down at the desk. "I'll just be a minute," he said, the quill quickly scratching away. When he had finished, he sealed it and with a flick of his wand presumably left it somewhere Aunt Petunia would easily see it. "By the way," he said, looking thoughtful, "this quill reminds me that I never had a chance to write you all this time. I'm sorry. At first I was just unable to receive owls and was tied up with Order business, but later I thought what I needed to tell you was best done in person. I thought I'd have a chance to speak to you long before this."

"It's okay, really" Harry responded, and Lupin nodded.

"Have you finished?"

 Harry looked around, relieved that he was free of this room for the rest of the year. "Yes," he replied eagerly, closing the lid of his trunk and locking it.

"Right. Good- right on schedule. This may be a bit tricky with the trunk and all," Remus said, grinning. "We need to make sure we have a good hold on that when we touch the key." He took hold of the leather trunk strap with one hand, and Harry grabbed Hedwig's cage and the other strap with his left hand.

"What's the key?" he asked, and Remus retrieved a battered copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from his overcoat pocket.

He grinned at Harry, saying, "Never leave home without it!"

Harry laughed, took hold of one half of the book, and they both watched Remus's watch tick down the seconds. Harry suddenly felt the familiar lurch in his stomach and the hurtling feeling of flying through space.


	5. A Weasley Whiz-Bang Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprises await at The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In re-reading this it strikes me anew how hopeful we all were those months before Book 6 came out, and knowing what ultimately happens makes me all sad. But this was never meant to be anything more than a fun diversion until the real thing was finally published, so I will press on...

The portkey was set to the main hall of Grimmauld Place, and when Harry opened his eyes to get his bearings, a feeling of dread suddenly overwhelmed him. While trying to adjust to the darkened hall, the realization hit that there would be no Sirius bursting through the door when the portrait of his mother inevitably starting screaming. Within a few seconds Harry's heart started pounding and he felt almost claustrophobic in the oppressive atmosphere. He closed his eyes again and willed the feeling to pass. He would get used to it- he would force himself to get used to the fact that Sirius was gone from here.

He tried to slow his breathing, and the fact that the house was completely silent suddenly hit him with the force of a slap. He would have thought that their arrival, burdened with a clanking cage and a heavy trunk would have set the old portrait of Siruis' mother to screaming, but it remained quiet. When the old-fashioned gas lamps finally sputtered to life, he glanced up the hall, and saw that the thick black drapes had been torn from the wall; the heavy gilt frame was still attached, but the canvas inside was scorched black and shredded. The damage was even worse than when Sirius had rent the portrait of The Fat Lady at Hogwarts. He shuddered.

Remus answered the unspoken question in Harry's eyes. "I didn't have a good first night when I came back here," he said quietly, his face drawn tight with remembered pain.

Harry now realized that all of the portraits of Sirius' horrible ancestors had been taken down and stacked in the back of the hall. He breathed a sigh of relief. "It looks much better," he said, with a half smile.

Remus face still looked haunted, as he gestured to the heap. "I didn't toss them out- I thought you might want to decide what to keep. It's just that I couldn't bear listening to them anymore." He walked over to stand in front of the remains of Mrs. Black's portrait. "We're still working on finding a way to reverse whatever permanent sticking charm she used, but I'm beginning to abandon hope.  Bill's even tried a few old tricks he picked up while curse-breaking."

Harry looked at the few remaining landscapes, and realized that Remus would have had to have left them for the portrait of Phineas Nigellus to have access to the rest of the house, thereby insuring Dumbledore's awareness of the happenings at Order headquarters.

"Maybe we could paint over it?" Harry said, trying to sound cheerful and failing miserably.

Lupin turned and smiled. "That's precisely what I was thinking. A little elbow grease can't hurt. It shouldn't be too bad, especially considering that we seem to have finally decontaminated the place."

Harry regarded his old teacher quietly for a few moments. Remus looked terrible, and it wasn’t just due to the phase of the moon. He realized again how much this war was costing in pain to everyone. He was not the only person suffering losses, yet here was Remus trying to make him feel more comfortable in a house that would probably haunt them both.

"Thank you, Remus," Harry said simply.

Remus seemed to realize the feelings Harry put behind his words, and Harry suddenly found himself in a quick embrace. "It'll be fine," Remus added when he released him, "We'll _both_ be fine."

Harry nodded, and was about to start hauling his trunk up the stairs to his old room when Remus interrupted him.

"Nah, don't bother, " he said with a grin, "we'll get it later. Come downstairs, we'll grab something to eat and you can tell me what you've been up to." He headed off down the stairs towards the kitchen, and Harry followed, his stomach already starting to growl. The kitchen was still dark and Harry was about to ask how to turn the lamps on when suddenly he was blinded by a burst of fireworks.

**"SURPRISE!" "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"**

He was stunned by the shouts before he could even see again. He grinned foolishly when he realized that he was surrounded by most of the Weasley clan, Tonks, Moody, and several of the others in the Order. Another loud burst of firecrackers left the words "Happy Birthday Harry!" hanging glowing in the air for a few moments.

Remus stood there with a broad smile, and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I thought you might like some company. Trust me," he said, "you don't want to deal with _my_ cooking on your first night here."

Harry found himself engulfed by Mrs. Weasley, who alternated between hugging him and admonishing him for being too thin. Ron, the twins and Bill took it in turns to slap him on the shoulders, while Tonks and Ginny were tossing some kind of magical confetti that disappeared before hitting the floor. Moody actually managed a twisted smile, and Mr. Weasley shook his hand warmly. Harry almost felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him, he was so shocked. He had never had anything even resembling a birthday party. It was almost too much.

Lupin, seeming to sense his feeling, handed him a butterbeer, and smiling, said,  "Let him breathe, he's a bit overwhelmed I think..."

Everyone settled down a bit, and started handing out drinks and snacks. Tonks, who had lost the blue mohawk in favor of magenta spikes, looked Harry over appraisingly, and said to Ginny, "Who's this sharp-dressed lad, then? He'll be a regular heartbreaker by the time I'm through with him."

Ron, who had just taken a swig of his butterbeer, snorted it out in a fountain.

Ginny giggled, replying, "You did a _very_ good job, Tonks," and Harry felt himself go crimson, while Ron tried to clean himself off.

"He needs some dragonskin though, don'tcha think?" Fred said with a grin to George, who replied, " _Definitely_ ," as he smoothed the lapels of his lurid green jacket. "Can't break any hearts without it, isn't that right, Bill?"

"Regular Veela bait, eh Bill?" Fred chimed in, straightening his own matching jacket and winking.

"Maybe Ron should have worn some for the Yule Ball then," Ginny said dryly, and it was Harry's turn to snort. Ron glared at his sister.

The eldest Weasley brother paused in his conversation with Remus, rolled his eyes and shook his head at his younger brothers. Though no one actually saw him draw his wand, a small pair of horns sprouted on top of Fred's head. They all burst out laughing.

"Wicked!" George exclaimed, bending Fred's head down to examine them more closely. "Hex me, hex me!" he called to Bill with glee.

"Well, mate," Ron said, when he'd gotten his composure back, "We figured you needed a Weasley Whiz-Bang Birthday Party, but I'm beginning to wonder if it was such a good idea..."

 

******************

 

After one of Mrs. Weasley's wonderful dinners, Harry settled back, simply enjoying the noise of so many people talking, and most of all, laughing. Suddenly the lights went out and Ginny appeared carrying a huge cake covered with candles and sparklers. Harry had never actually had a proper birthday cake, and was so floored he really didn't know how to react.

Ginny whispered, "Make a wish, Harry," and his mind went blank. Instead, he said a silent thank you to whoever was responsible for bringing these people into his life. He blew out the candles to a round of applause, and grinned at Fred & George's trick sparklers that refused to blow out. He had never had a happier moment.

Sitting at the table, eating cake and listening to the various conversations swirling around him, Harry felt content. He didn't feel any need to talk, just sitting back and absorbing it all was exactly what he needed. To feel a part of a family was all he'd ever wanted, and this  _was_  his family.

He glanced around, absently watching a stray firework that was fluttering around the room, when he noticed Remus threading his way through the kitchen with a large bag in his hand. Harry got up and followed him into the hall.

"Remus?"

"Oh, it's okay, Harry. I'm just off to feed Buckbeak."

Harry felt terrible that he had completely forgotten that Buckbeak must still be up in Sirius's mother's bedroom. "I can do that for you," he volunteered, and Remus hesitated.

"If you'd like, sure. You do remember how to…?"

"Yes- I know what to do. Plus he knows me- I'm sure it'll be fine."

Remus handed over the bag, grinning. "Enjoy yourself. He's not the neatest eater. That is, if you can get him to eat. He's been a bit off his feed lately."

Harry, suddenly rather sorry he volunteered, took the bag and headed upstairs. When he got to the old bedroom, he hesitated, then pushed the door open. Buckbeak was sprawled on the huge old bed. Harry paused, and swung a low bow. Buckbeak's head shot up, and he peered at Harry with an intent expression, before nodding acceptance of the formality and dejectedly lowering his head onto his forelegs.

"Hey boy," Harry said softly, bringing over the food. Buckbeak sniffed at the bag, but showed little interest. Harry slowly extended his hand, and the great beast allowed him to gently stroke its beak and head. Harry's eyes blurred, as he realized that Buckbeak too missed Sirius. He felt his throat tighten as it hit him all over again that Sirius was truly gone. He hadn't cried since that day by the lake at Hogwarts, and he tried desperately to avoid it now. He was suddenly wracked with dry heaves, before hot tears began streaming down his face. Wrapping his arms around Buckbeak's thick neck, he began to sob uncontrollably into the soft feathers, never hearing when soft footsteps went slowly back down the corridor.

Buckbeak seemed to understand his pain, and made a soothing sort of hum deep in his throat. Harry's sobs finally abated, and he had no idea how long he had been standing there engulfed in grief. Grief for Sirius, for his parents, for his own future, now that he knew what was truly at stake.

There was a soft knock at the door, and Harry heard Ginny call his name. "Remus said you might need some help," she said through the closed door.

He quickly wiped his face on his sleeves. "I'm okay," he choked out, and heard the door creak open. He turned to face Ginny hoping that his face wasn't too blotchy from crying. If it was, she showed no reaction, and he felt a warmth of gratitude for her tact.

She looked Buckbeak straight in the eyes, and dropped a low courtesy. He inclined his head in acceptance, and Ginny entered the room, wrinkling her nose slightly.

"I think Remus needs to do a scouring charm up here," she whispered, not wanting to offend the beast. She turned to Harry.  "Is everything okay? Hasn't he eaten?"

Harry regarded Buckbeak, who was morosely shredding the blanket on the bed with his talons. "I think…well, I think he…misses Sirius," he managed finally.

Ginny hesitantly put forward her hand, and Buckbeak allowed her to rub his feathered head. "Poor thing, he's been through a lot," she said quietly, furtively glancing in Harry's direction. She turned her attention back to Buckbeak. " _You_ _need to eat_ ," she said, sounding so much like her mother that Harry couldn't contain a grin.

Unflinching, she picked up one of the rats Harry had dumped on the floor, and holding it by the tail, offered it to Buckbeak. "C'mon Beaky, it's _good_ for you," she cooed. He took it gingerly in his mouth, and they both backed out of the way, watching in fascinated disgust as Buckbeak made short work out of it. The one taste seemed to trigger the beast's appetite, and he began to work on the rest of the pile in earnest.

"You must have the magic touch," Harry said, as they took their cue to back out of the room.

"Bye, Buckbeak," Ginny called, "We'll see you later." Once out in the hall, they grinned at each other. "Revolting, isn't it?" Ginny laughed. "Come on," she said, "I need to wash my hands and you look as though you could use some cold water on your face."

She started off down the hall, and Harry followed, glad the dim light hid his flush. When she had left him to clean up, he splashed his face, and breathed a sigh of relief. He felt exhausted, but somehow better than he had in a very long time.

 

******************

 

He wasn't quite sure what Ginny had said when she preceded him downstairs, but no one mentioned his lengthy absence from his own party. The adults sat finishing their tea, talking quietly about affairs at the Ministry, and Harry retreated into the parlor where Fred and George were teaming up against Ron in a loud game of chess. Ginny was perched on Ron's chair arm to get a better view of the game, and silently handed Harry another piece of cake as he sat down. He smiled his thanks, and soon felt well enough to berate Ron for a lapse in strategic judgment.

Tonks wandered in to watch the game, and reminded Harry of a question he had been wanting to ask.

"Tonks?" he said, drawing her away from the game. "Where's Kreacher?"

Her expression turned very serious. "Gone," she replied simply.

"What happened?" he asked, surprised.

Tonks sighed as if she would rather not be having this conversation, but finally answered. "There is a very ancient magic that binds house-elves to their families," she began. "What Kreacher did to Sirius- betraying him to his death- was unforgivable. When I got out of hospital, I came straight here. As a member of the family, I had the right to invoke punishment and retribution."

Harry noticed that the rest of the room had gone still, Fred still holding a chess piece in his hand mid-move.

"I found him lurking about Sirius' father's room, and told him that I would be bringing him before a council of his peers," she continued in a low, angry voice. "I meant to take him to Hogwarts, where there's a large community of house-elves, and let them deal with him according to their own laws. The old thing panicked, I suppose, and took off like a shot down the hall. I ran after him but it was too late. Apparently he'd lost his balance and had plummeted down the staircase. Snapped his neck."

Harry heard Ginny gasp, before George, with anger in his voice, murmured, "Served the old bastard right."

Tonks looked at Harry with a dangerous glint in her eye. "I'm only sorry he wasn't held to account first."

"What would the elves have done to him, d'you think?" he asked her.

"Not sure really," she answered thoughtfully. "I expect they might have torn him to shreds."

"Wish Hermione' d heard that," Ron snorted.

 

****************** 

 

As the evening wore on, Harry said his goodbyes to their guests as they filtered out, and thanked them for coming. Tonks gave him a quick hug before she left and muttered, _"Do I need to inspect?"_ in his ear.

Alarmed, Harry muttered, "Hula girls."

Tonks grinned ear to ear. "Good choice," she whispered, and was out the door and gone with a  _crack!_

It was soon just Mrs. Weasley and Remus left in the house with Ron, Ginny and himself, as the others weren't staying the night. With a huge yawn and a goodnight kiss for each of them, Mrs. Weasley went off to bed, and they all soon followed, leaving Remus reading in front of the fire.

Harry paused before he headed up the stairs. "Remus?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Thanks again. This has been the best birthday I've ever had."

He took the stairs two at a time, just hearing his guardian's soft reply, "Good night, Harry. Happy Birthday."


	6. Ron's Rude Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go _'bump in the night'_ and a new day brings a sort of return to a normal life....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter is where the fluff alert goes on. ;)

"You spoke to her on the fellytone?" Ron exclaimed, his eyes wide.

Harry and Ron had been lying in their beds, examining Harry's various presents, and talking about their month apart. The conversation had turned to Hermione's vacation.

"Yeah, she called me before she went to Diagon Alley, to let me know she was going. I  _did_  send you a note with Hedwig. It's not like she has an owl," he added, sensing Ron starting to tense up.

Ron ran his hand through his already rumpled hair. "Right," he stammered, his ear tips turning pink. "Right. At least she let us know before she went, but…but… Bloody Hell! I mean why New York? Could she  _get_  any farther away?"

"Well, look on the bright side," Harry said with a barely suppressed grin, "it could have been Australia. Or Bulgaria," he added wickedly.

Ron pulled a face and turned off the lamp. A few moments passed silently, before he spoke again. "And she's gone and missed your birthday and being here and all," he added, almost to himself. "I expect she won't be back until term starts."

The disappointment in his voice surprised Harry. Although he'd had reason to suspect Ron's feelings for Hermione ever since the 'Victor Krum incident', as he privately referred to it, Ron had rarely sounded so open about them. Harry was sure Ron hadn't yet acknowledged them, but then again, he thought, maybe he missed something last term when he was so focused on his own troubles. They had spent quite a bit of time together, being prefects and all.

"She did send you a post card, right?" he replied, not really knowing what to say.

"Yeah. It was cool, actually. Pretty amazing, the buildings those Muggles have over there. They apparently have no clue the wicked-tall ones were designed by wizards- did you know?"

"No, I didn't." Harry said, glad to hear Ron sound a bit less upset.

"Yeah, well, I hope she has a good time." Ron was silent for a few more minutes, then spoke again. "I wonder what American Quidditch is like? They have that other sport- what is it? Quod something? Bet they aren't anywhere near as good as our teams."

"No, I expect not," Harry said thoughtfully. Quidditch was, after all, a very serious topic. "But I bet Hermione doesn't even catch a game there. You know how much she enjoys it."

"Too right," Ron replied. "Her biggest flaw." He let out a huge yawn, then rolled over, saying "G'night" sleepily.

Harry lay flat on his back, contemplating the moonlight streaming through the open window. He had decided that he wasn't going to tell anyone about the prophecy- not even Ron and Hermione. He couldn't bear to think about their reactions. Ron would worry even more than usual and Hermione would try to prove once again that Trelawny was a fraud. They had enough to deal with- they didn't need yet another burden from him. He lay wondering what it would be like to be far away and not have to worry about Voldemort. He quickly chastised himself, and emptied his mind as he was supposed to, before a fitful sleep took him.

A few hours later he awoke suddenly, with the strange feeling that someone or something was lurking outside their room. He cursed himself for not thinking to bolt the door, but as Kreacher was no longer prowling the halls at night, neither he nor Ron had thought to. The doors creaked slowly open, and Harry tensed, wondering whether he could reach either his wand or his glasses without making any noise. Pretending to still be asleep, he opened his eyes just enough to make out a white blur hovering on the threshold. The figure moved slowly towards him, and as it entered the patch of moonlight, he could just make out the glint of red hair.

"Ginny?" he hissed, his heart pounding.

"Harry?" was the startled response.

"You scared the hell out of me," he replied, trying to control his breathing. "What's wrong?"

Ginny came closer to the side of his bed. "I'm sorry to wake you, Harry," she whispered. "I thought maybe I could just sneak in…."

"Whatever for?" he replied, nerves getting the best of politeness. He sat up in the bed against the iron headboard and fumbled for his glasses on the nightstand. When he could finally focus, he saw that she was standing there, wrapped in a blanket, twirling her hair in a nervous fashion. When she finally spoke, her voice was full of embarrassment.

"I…I…" she hesitated. "IhadanightmareandIdon'tlikesleepinginthatroomallaloneandtherewasaweirdnoiseandI'mnotababy!" she finally burst out, before adding, more slowly, "It's really freaking me out in there and I thought maybe I could sleep in here with _you_ guys."

Harry, surprised by the fact that she got all that out without taking a breath, motioned her over to the foot of his bed. She smiled gratefully, climbed on and curled her feet up under her blanket.

"I really don't want you to think I'm a baby or anything," she began. "I mean, it's not like I'm _that_ much younger than Ron, after all."

Harry nodded, still stunned at the situation.

"Last summer Hermione was here so it wasn't as creepy, and well, with Sirius gone and all, and what happened… well I just kind of got… _I dunno_ ," she trailed off, embarrassed.

Harry flinched at his godfather's name, but softly said, "Yeah, I know what it's like to wake up from a nightmare. Usually, of course, _I_ wake up screaming," he added, with a wry smile, and Ginny grinned back at him.

Her expression was serious again a moment later. "I thought they'd stopped, you know, but after what happened in the Ministry, well, sometimes I dream about it again, and hear _his_ voice…" she said with a shudder.

"What? When Voldermort came back?"

"No, when I was in…in…the Chamber," she replied, barely audible. "It was so dark in there- you remember…."

Harry nodded, and reached for her hand, which had been playing fitfully with the corner of his sheet. "It's okay, Ginny, you can sleep in here." She looked a bit startled at the contact, and he pulled his hand back quickly. She hung her head in embarrassment, and Harry felt his face burning.

"It's just that if I go to Mum's room, she'll insist tomorrow that we go back to The Burrow and I don't want to go," she said.

He tried to ignore the funny feeling in his stomach that occurred when he touched her, and looked around the room, realizing there weren't a lot of options. The only other furniture consisted of their school trunks and a large wardrobe. Ron snored suddenly, and they made eye contact, both breaking into quiet laughter.

Ginny motioned in Ron's direction, giggling. "He can sleep through just about _anything_ , that one." Ron was lying on his stomach, sprawled out, one long leg trailing on the floor. Ginny moved over to the side of his bed, gently shaking him, and whispering his name. She tried several times, each time getting a bit louder and a bit more rough. The only reaction she got was Ron rolling over and batting at her, murmuring incoherently. "I don't suppose I can get him to budge," she sighed, and started to walk past Harry's bed toward the door. "I'm _really_ sorry to have woken you…"

"No, Gin, you can sleep in _my_ bed," Harry interrupted her, grateful that his blush couldn't be seen in the dark. "I can sleep on the floor."

"You will not," she hissed back, "Merlin knows what's living under these beds, no matter what Remus says about the place being cleaned out."

The legitimate thought of something crawling out from under the bed next to him gave Harry pause about sleeping on the floor.  _'After all, it's only Ginny,'_  he thought to himself. Slowly, eyeing her carefully, he spoke before he lost his nerve. "You can share with me then."

Ginny's eyes grew round, and Harry heard her sharp intake of breath. He slid over quickly and pulled out his extra pillow, making room for her on half the narrow bed.

She eyed him carefully back, considering her options, then quickly scurried up to sit next to him, pulling her blanket close. They sat side by side for a few moments, Harry under the covers, Ginny wrapped up tight on top of the coverlet, not quite knowing what to say, when Ron let out another loud snore, breaking the tension. They both burst out laughing, trying not to make too much noise.

"You know, you might want to reconsider. Whatever's lurking in your room may be better than listening to _that_ all night."

She smiled. "I'm used to it, actually. They all snore. Charlie's so loud I could hear him two floors up," she giggled. "I hope _you_ don't snore," she added, with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"I hope not," he choked. "I _did_ give you fair warning about the screaming, though."

"I'll risk it," Ginny giggled, snuggling down on the pillow and rolling over, her back to Harry.

"Harry?" she asked, after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah, Gin?"

"Thank you."

"No problem."

"Harry?"

"Yeah, Gin?"

"Thanks for the letter."

"Um…you're welcome."

As he rolled over on to his side and tried to inch his way back under the covers without his back touching her, he suddenly realized he still had his glasses on. Ginny was on the side of the bed with the table.

"Um, Ginny," he began.

"Yes Harry?" she murmured sleepily. Harry's stomach gave another flip.

"Could you put these away for me?" he asked, reaching over his back to hand her the glasses.

"Sure," she replied, fumbling behind her back to reach them. Their hands met again, and Harry swore he felt a tingle as if he had gotten a shock.

 

 *************************************

 

He was dreaming he was in a warm garden, and the air was full of the scent  of flowers.  _'Lilacs,'_  he thought, groggily,  _'and something else….'lily of the valley?_ ' He breathed in deeply, and snuggled closer to his pillow.  _'Pillow?'_

He tried to wrap his mind around the concept that he was still in bed. The smell of the flowers was so real, and he pulled the pillow closer to his chest. Only now it didn't feel like his other pillow. He bolted awake, and a red blur swam before his eyes. At that moment he heard what was unmistakably Ron's voice.

_"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL??!"_

Harry suddenly felt his pillow jump, shriek, and almost fall off the bed. With reflexes honed by Quidditch, he instinctively grabbed tighter, only to realize that his arm was wrapped _not_ around his pillow but Ginny's waist. It all came back to him that she was sharing his bed, and he froze, realizing that somehow during the night they had reversed from back to back to sleeping spooned together.

"Ron, I can explain," he began hurriedly, and he heard Ginny hiss at Ron to lower his voice.

" _Good,_ because you have exactly two seconds before I pound you, and _then_ you can deal with Mum…" Ron threatened, his voice a low hiss.

Cursing his blindness and trying to reach his glasses over Ginny's head, Harry almost pushed her off the bed again and she grabbed his arm tightly. Hauling her back, he flinched when he realized that now she had rolled practically on top of him. Huge brown eyes blinked back at him inches from his own before she found her balance, and managed to sit upright. Harry caught a flash of white shoulder before she tugged her blanket tight around herself. She handed him his glasses, and he was almost sorry to be able to see, as Ron's red and furious face loomed over him.

"Well?"

It was Ginny who answered Ron's fury. "I had a nightmare, and I couldn't sleep. Harry let me sleep in here, and if _you_ hadn't been such a big lug and hogged your whole bed I wouldn't have had to inconvenience Harry!"

Harry marveled at her self-possession. She had obviously learned well, growing up with six brothers, that a good offense is the best defense.

Ron sat back on his bed, stunned at her attack. He almost recoiled when she pointed at him and hissed, "If you say _one_ nasty thing to Harry or tell Mum, I will hex you till you can't see straight, and you _know_ I can do it!" She turned suddenly to Harry, squeezed his hand, said "Thanks," in a soft voice and fled through the door.

Harry and Ron sat quietly eyeing each other, neither knowing what to say.

"I think we need to find a chair for this room," Harry finally blurted out, before jumping quickly out of bed and escaping to the bathroom.

  

 *************************************

 

He decided it was safer to stay in the bathroom while Ron cooled off, and only when he was toweling off from his shower did he realize that he had neglected to bring clothes with him. Poking his head out the door, he surveyed the quiet corridor. Either no one else was up yet, or they were already downstairs. He made sure the towel was knotted tightly at his waist, and decided to risk the quick trip to his room. He was about halfway down the corridor when Ginny came out of her room, her eyes wide and her mouth opened in a small _'O'_ of surprise.

"Um, er…. Right." Harry knew he was crimson, but unable to manage coherent speech, he just bolted the rest of the way down the hall, not daring to breathe until he had closed his door and leaned against it in shock. This day, unlike yesterday, kept getting more and more terrible, and he hadn't even gotten as far as breakfast.

He pulled on some old clothes, and was about to head downstairs when Ron poked his head in the room. He wore a determined expression, and said nothing, only nodded at Harry to follow. Harry followed, dreading whatever Ron had planned. He led Harry into one of the guestrooms at the end of the hall, and motioned to an old chaise lounge sitting in a dusty corner.

"Think that'll do?" he said abruptly, not looking at Harry.

"Yeah," Harry said, realizing what Ron meant. Relief spread over him as he also realized that Ron had no intention of beating him senseless. Without further conversation, they each took an end, and dragged it down the hall into their room. After they managed to force it through the door, and shifted the other furniture around to accommodate it, Ron sank down onto it and sighed.

"You know, even though you _are_ my best mate, I should really beat hell into you after this morning. If I'd been Bill, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Nothing happened…" Harry began, before Ron waved him off.

"As it so happens," Ron continued, "I know that she still has terrible nightmares about Riddle, so you're off the hook. But don't push me," he added, with a glare.

Harry nodded, a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized that Ron, for all his furtive comments about Ginny picking  _"someone better"_  than Dean, might not take too kindly to any interest he might show in Ginny. Why that bothered him was the third surprise of his morning.

 

 *************************************

 

Harry went down to breakfast while Ron headed off to the shower. As he came down the stairs he breathed in the wonderful aroma of Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking. It was the first morning in months that he actually looked forward to breakfast.

"Good Morning, Harry dear," said Mr. Weasley, busily waving her wand directing various utensils in simultaneously cleaning and cooking breakfast. "How did you sleep?"

"Er," he began, but just then he noticed Ginny sitting at the table blowing on her tea. She raised her eyes to his, and, although turning slightly pink, she managed a wink.

He felt the heat rise to his cheeks but couldn't repress a grin in return. "Fine, actually. Never better," he added as he took the cup of tea Mrs. Weasley offered him. He noticed Ginny turn a bit pinker, which oddly pleased him.

"Good, good. Have some breakfast. You look half-starved. What that aunt of yours is thinking…" she trailed off in frustration, piling heaps of food on his plate.

"He looks fit enough to me," Ginny said softly.

Harry choked on his tea.

"You all right, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, sounding concerned, but Harry managed to wave her off, his face glowing fire with embarrassment. Ron had just entered the room, his wet hair looking as if he had tried to shake it dry like a dog.

"Who looks fit enough?" he asked, helping himself to a muffin from the basket and flopping down in a chair.

"Harry," Ginny answered, "though obviously not at the moment," she added with a mischievous grin. Harry glared at her from over the rim of his cup as Ron eyed them both suspiciously.

"Ron, how was _your_ night?" Mrs. Weasley asked, her back turned again to the sink.

"Well, it started out fine, but …"

"Mum," Ginny interrupted, "any more tea?" she asked, glaring Ron into silence. He glared back at her as he began his breakfast.

Harry, feeling increasingly uncomfortable in the unusual silence and afraid Mrs. Weasley would sense a problem, tried to distract Ron. "Think we'll hear from Hermione again soon?"

It was Ron's turn to blush. He grunted vaguely in reply and looked at Harry as if that was the last topic he wanted to discuss in front of his mother and his sister. Harry again met Ginny's eyes and saw the barely contained grin twitching at the corners of her mouth. He realized that he had once again stumbled on to dangerous territory and gave up any attempt at conversation.

"Well, if you all hadn't assured me that you had a good night, I would think you were all asleep at the table," said Mrs. Weasley turning her attention away from her cooking. "Ginny, I thought you said you slept well. It's unlike you to be quiet in the morning. Ron is rarely awake, but you're usually more chatty," she added, fondly tousling Ron's drying hair. Ginny blushed slightly again.

"Yeah, well Gin only gets tongue-tied around…" Ron began with a smirk, but was interrupted by Ginny knocking over her juice into his plate and dousing the remains of his breakfast.

"Oh Ron, I'm so sorry," she said, feigning apology but Harry could see the warning in her eyes. Ron apparently had too, and subsided with a grin.

Mrs. Weasley scooped up the plate. "No harm done, I'll just take care of this. When you're all finished Remus has a surprise upstairs for you."

  

 *************************************

 

"Well, you _said_ you wanted to paint," Remus said with a grin, as they entered the main hall. He stood surrounded by paint cans, brushes, rollers and tarps.

"Hey! The frame's down!" Ron exclaimed, pointing to where Mrs. Black's portrait had hung.

"Yes," said Remus, "Bill finally tracked down a counter-curse and dropped back in late last night to try it."

"That's a relief," muttered Harry. His stomach gave a funny lurch when he realized that Bill had in fact _been_ in the house, and had luckily not been looking for Ginny.  He buried that thought.

"Did the family-tree come down as well?" he asked Remus, but the older man shook his head.

"I don't know what those people were thinking, but they must have known more obscure spells…. Bill's never seen anything like it. Said he'd see what else he could come up with."

Ron and Ginny were looking with interest at the Muggle paint supplies Remus and Mundungus had already unloaded.

"I think that's everything ya' need," said Dung, and Harry wondered how he had come by them.

Remus eyed the ceiling thoughtfully. "Not quite," he said, as he lifted his wand and softly spoke some words Harry couldn't catch. Avery sturdy looking network of scaffolding suddenly grew from out of the dark wood paneling, with walkways and ladders so they could reach the ceiling and the upper walls.

Ron whistled appreciatively, and turned to Mundungus. "What do we do with this stuff?" he asked, eyeing a paint roller with curiosity.

"I'm afraid Harry will have to explain that to you," Remus interjected, "as Dung and I have to be off."

"Without even a cup o' tea?" Dung whined, but quickly subsided when Remus gave him a sharp look. With a sigh and a jaunty wave he opened the front door and was gone.

Remus turned to Harry, and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry to have to leave so soon- it was unexpected. Don't expect me to be home for a few days, okay? Maybe even longer- I'm not sure yet. If you need anything else Molly or Arthur will get it for you."

Harry nodded, sorry to see him leave so soon. He still looked very tired. He followed Remus to the door.

"Remus?" he said suddenly.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Be careful."

Remus smiled, and a few of the wrinkles left his brow and did not return. With a quick "Goodbye" to Ron and Ginny, he followed Mundungus out the door, paused on the front step and disappeared.

  

 *************************************

  

Later that night Harry lay back on his bed, exhausted. His body ached in the way it used to after a long day's work in the Dursley garden, but this time he at least felt a sense of satisfaction in his work.  He was determined to make this house livable again, the way Sirius would have had there been time. He would never live here with his godfather as they had once planned, but he would make sure that everything Sirius hated about his house was wiped clean.

He had to admit that he was rather enjoying the work. Ron was always a lot of fun, and seemed to have shrugged off his anger at the morning's incident. Harry was also glad to be getting to know Ginny better. She was like Ron in temperament, but with a bit more of the twins' devilish humor added. Not to mention a lot prettier as well.  _'Damn! Where did that come from?_ ' he thought with a start. He lay in bed thinking about their various conversations that day.

Ron and Ginny told him funny stories about their childhood, and talked about Quidditch and Hogwarts and what awful hexes Harry should inflict on the Dursleys once he was seventeen. Sometimes the talk became serious as they wondered what was happening in the world, and where the various members of the Order were. They were very concerned when Harry told them that Remus would be gone for a bit, and they spent some time speculating on his mission.

"I bet he's doing something to stop other werewolves from joining up with Voldemort," Ron said.

"Tough job if that's it," Harry replied, shaking his head. "It's not like they're treated very well, is it?"

"True. At least Remus looks a bit better than he did when we first met him," Ron said. "Remember how he looked like he hadn't had a square meal in months? Mum's cooking takes care of that, but I guess most don't have people looking out for them."

"Well, it can't just be werewolves," Ginny said thoughtfully. "He goes out on missions with the other Order members." A grin lit her face. "I mean, can you imagine Gred and Forge sitting down to tea with a pack of werewolves trying to convince them to join our side?"

Harry and Ron laughed, before Harry, his expression serious again, said, "I suppose they're all out spying to find out where Voldemort's been hiding since the spring. I wonder  _why_ _he's_ so quiet," Harry said. "I haven't even felt a twinge for weeks."

"Maybe he's gone on holiday," Ron ventured with a snerk.

"Ron!" Ginny exclaimed, "That's not funny."

They all looked at each other, then Harry broke out in a big grin. "Yes it is," he said with a laugh. "Lord Voldemort at his summer cottage by the sea…."

"…Lying around on a chaise under an umbrella," Ginny, now grinning broadly, interrupted.

"With that white stuff- zinc oxide- smeared all over his flat little snake nose…"

"Which won't hold up his sunglasses," Ron piped in.

"Sipping a frozen pink drink with a little paper umbrella in it…"

They were all laughing now, and Ron, almost breathless, began, "With Wormtail fanning him…"

Harry stiffened, the laughter dying on his lips.  _'Wormtail….'_ He thought miserably.   _'If only I had let Sirius and Remus kill him none of this would have happened.'_

Ginny looked at Ron with disgust. " _Good one_ , Ron. _Had_ to take it beyond the joke as always," she said. Ron glared back, but squirmed uncomfortably.

"Sorry, Harry," I just didn't think…" he faltered, looking glum.

"Not your fault," Harry began, before being interrupted by Ginny once again.

"Not  _your_  fault either, Potter!" she rounded on him. "You did the right thing at the time. Who knows what might have happened if you hadn't stopped Remus and Sirius."

"He might still be alive," Harry spat back.

"In Azkaban, after a Dementor's Kiss, with Remus as a cellmate," Ginny replied evenly, not cowed by his anger. "Or perhaps they'd have _put Remus down_ as a  _Dangerous Beast_."

Harry met her eyes, and she held them until he was finally forced to look away. "You're right," he said softly.

"As always," she said smugly, playfully swatting him. "About time you realized that, Potter."

"Oh, please…" Ron groaned.

Harry looked up with a small smile, and saw that she was now looking at him kindly.

"Back to work, eh?" she said with a grin.

Harry nodded and hauled her up from the floor. "Builds Quidditch muscles," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, about that…" Ron began, and their talk turned to the season ahead, the uncomfortable moment forgotten.

  

 *************************************

  

Harry was just starting to get sleepy when the door creaked open, and Ginny slipped silently into the room. She pressed the door closed and turned around, then jumped as she met Harry's eyes.

He felt his stomach flip-flop again and the blush rise to his cheeks as he remembered the previous night.

She stood, wrapped tightly in her blanket, hesitating. "Did I wake you?" she whispered.

"No, but you woke _me_ ," Ron said suddenly, making both Harry and Ginny jump. He opened one eye lazily, and motioned toward the large chaise they had dragged in the room that morning. "Couch, Ginny," he commanded.

Startled by his tone, she almost ran across the room and sat down.

"Don't want another rude awakening tomorrow," he said to Harry, his eyebrow arching and his expression in a sort of glare, before he once again closed his eyes.

Harry caught Ginny's eye and she grinned at him from across the room. He watched as she settled herself, curling up like a cat in the plush cushioned chaise. Hesitating a moment, he reached behind his head and tossed her one of his pillows. She caught it easily, smiled, and mouthed "Thanks," then snuggled back down to sleep.

"'Night, Ron. 'Night, Harry," she whispered.

Harry laid his glasses on the nightstand, and snuggled back down against his remaining pillow, pleased to realize it was the one she had used last night and still was lightly scented with her perfume. He was in a dreamless sleep within minutes.


	7. Polecats and Paintbrushes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bored teenagers, muggle-style chores involving paint...what could go wrong?  
> Warning: Silliness ahead.

"What are you going to do about Buckbeak?" Ginny asked the next morning.  They had decided to take a break from their painting, and Harry was fiddling aimlessly with the dial on the wizard wireless as they sat on the floor. Ron had gone off downstairs to wheedle some snacks from his mum.

"Keep him, of course," Harry replied, startled at the question.

"But do you think he's really happy stuck up in that room all the time?"

Harry thought a minute, before answering. "Well…what else can I do?" Now that she had brought it up, he was growing more and more concerned. "It's not like I can take him back to Hogwarts with me. Hagrid'd love it, but Malfoy would be sure to see to it that he's put down."

Ginny twirled her hair thoughtfully. "That's true. Perhaps…hmmm…. Let me think about it." She dropped the subject just as abruptly as she had started it, and Harry let it be for the moment, moving to relieve the returning Ron of the extra biscuit tin he was balancing on his head.

  

*****

 

They had all started the painting very enthusiastically, but after two days the novelty of working the Muggle way wore off, and the job lost its allure. The first sign of trouble was purely accidental.

Ron had been carrying his paint tray to work on another area of the ceiling when he tripped, sending a stream of paint down through the scaffolding. It hit the floor right in front of Ginny, who had been refilling her own tray. The impact caused a splash of paint to fly back up at her, soaking her jeans and the surrounding drop-cloth.

"RON!" she shrieked, "Look what you're doing!"

Ron burst out laughing, and Harry couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Oh, you think it’s funny, do you?" she called up to them, narrowing her eyes. She plunged a large paintbrush into the can, and, with a practiced  _swish and flick_ , sent a stream of paint soaring up to smack Ron right in the face as he leaned over the railing.

He stood there, stunned and dripping. Harry doubled over in laughter, and missed when Ron's expression changed from shock to guile.  Ron salvaged what was left in his paint tray and started down the nearest ladder, but Ginny anticipated his revenge and charged up the ladder on Harry's side of the scaffold, shrieking with laughter.  Ron quickly corrected direction and cornered her.

"HA! There's no escaping me now!" Ron yelled, and he raised the tray to swing the contents at her. At the last second Ginny grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him in front of her. It was too late for Ron to stop his forward momentum and Harry could only throw up his own tray as a shield against the wave of paint that hit them both.

"Oh no! Harry, I'm so sorry! I didn't think he'd hit  _you_!" Ginny cried, trying not to laugh as Harry turned to face her, his glasses completely opaque and his face dripping paint. He sprayed it off of his lips at her before he spoke.

"You are  _so_  dead," he threatened.

"Harry…" she began, starting to back away.

Following her voice since he couldn't see, he suddenly seized her and attempted to swing her over his shoulder, calling to Ron, "Get me the big paint can!" Ginny was shrieking and trying to escape, and Ron was laughing too hard to help him.

" _WHAT_ ARE YOU DOING??!!"

They froze, and the only sound was the drip of the paint echoing through in the hall.

"Um…Hi Mum," Ron choked out.

"Look at this place! What were you thinking? There's paint all over the woodwork now, and the lamps, and…. Look at yourselves!" Mrs. Weasley was beside herself, staring up at them as if they had gone completely mad.

Harry slowly slid Ginny onto her feet, and removed his glasses. Ron and Ginny's faces were both bright pink beneath their paint smears. When Harry leaned his head over the scaffold railing, however, Mrs. Weasley's mouth began to twitch. He had pushed back his fringe and now had a white streak straight down the middle of his head, and resembled nothing so much as a polecat.

Mrs. Weasley soon burst into laughter and Ron and Ginny joined in when they realized what she was pointing at.

Harry looked around at them puzzled. "What? What's so funny?" No one could answer him for laughing, and he finally gave up and laughed himself, relieved that at least Mrs.Weasley wasn't angry with them.

When she finally got her breath, she pulled out her wand and swirled it around at the walls, calling  _"Scourgify!"_

Ron and Ginny slowly came down the ladder, and stood in front of their bemused mother. Harry followed them down, trying to clear some of the paint off his glasses with his shirttail, and they all waited for her reaction.

"Go on then, off with you!" she said in an exasperated voice.  "Get cleaned up. I'll take care of this." She motioned them up the stairs. "Honestly, I thought I was done with this sort of nonsense when Fred and George left home," she muttered as she surveyed the mess. "Take your shoes off first!" she called after them, as she cast a few more cleaning spells that straightened up the drop cloths and supplies.

Like guilty children, they all froze, removed their trainers, then tore upstairs as fast as they could. Ron's legs being the longest, he made it to the bathroom first and slammed the door in triumph.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other. With an evil grin, Ginny suddenly yelled, "Upstairs bath!" and shot past Harry onto the second staircase. He chased her up the stairs, and, gaining the hall, tore after her. His legs being longer he caught up to her in no time.

"Oh no you don't," he cried, catching her arm just before she could reach the door to the bath.

Ginny shrieked with laughter, and tried pulling away from Harry, but he strengthened his grip. He spun her around to move past her, but lost his footing as his socks slipped on the smooth wood floor. His feet went out from under him, and he fell down hard, pulling Ginny with him. He managed just enough control of his fall to roll so that he didn't land on her. Startled, the wind knocked out of him, he opened his eyes only to find Ginny's large brown ones only inches away.

"Are you all right?" she breathed, her voice still tinged with laughter.

Her face was flushed, her eyes sparkling, and Harry, breathing hard, realized that he still had his arms about her as she lay on top of him. He could feel her heart pounding as fast as his own. She seemed to realize her position at the same moment. Harry released her abruptly, and she quickly rolled off of him. Still breathing hard, though not necessarily from their race, they eyed each other silently.

Harry knew he was turning crimson, but couldn't take his eyes away. He had never really looked that closely at Ginny, and he was startled to find that she was looking at him with the same intensity. This was the second time in days that he had found himself in close physical proximity with her, and he realized that he hadn't wanted to release her from his arms. He broke eye contact, shocked at the thought, and waved vaguely at the door.

"Er, you win," he finally managed, overwhelmed by his feelings. "I'll just go down and see if Ron's done."

He clambered to his feet as fast as possible and tried not to run back down the hall. As he started down the stairs, he risked a glance behind him, and saw Ginny still sitting up against the wall, watching him with a strange expression on her face. 

  

*****

 

Later on, after he had cleaned up and changed into some of his new clothes (including a green pair of boxers covered with a print of mermaids, just in case Tonks should stop in) Harry finally worked up enough nerve to risk running into Ginny downstairs. _'It's only Ginny,'_ he kept repeating to himself, but every time he thought of that moment in the hall he found his heart racing again. He heard her voice from the parlor as he came down the staircase, and he hesitated in front of the closed door.

" _But Dad_ ," she pleaded, "he can't be cooped up here, and it would kill Harry to let him go. After all, he saved his life once, and, well… he belonged to Sirius."

Harry realized that she was talking to Mr. Weasley about Buckbeak's future, and paused to listen outside the door.

"Ginny," said Mr. Weasley, "What are _we_ to do with a Hippogriff?"

"It would be so much better for him at _The Burrow_. Charlie could fix it so no one notices him, and that he stays on the property - you now, like how they keep the dragons corralled. You could keep him _Disillusioned_ ," she answered quickly. "He'd be so much happier in the fresh air. He can hunt his own food…."

Harry felt Ron come up beside him, and motioned him to keep quiet.

"What's up?" Ron whispered.

"Ginny's trying to convince your dad to take Buckbeak to live at The Burrow," Harry replied.

"Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, before lowering his voice again. "Well, no fear, mate, she’s got Dad wrapped around her little finger. It's in the bag. Come on then," he added, walking quietly down the hall.

Harry followed him, feeling relieved. "Fancy a game of chess?" Ron asked, and he readily agreed. They had just turned to go back upstairs when there was a loud knock at the door.

"I'll go," said Ron, "You go set up the board. I expect it's Tonks- she told mum she might be in tonight. "

Harry had just started up the stairs when Ron's shout made him stop.

"HERMIONE!!"

Harry whirled around, gaping, as Ron, with a look of pure joy on his face, swept the startled girl up in his arms into a spinning hug.

"You're back!" he exclaimed, "When did you get in? How did you get here?" Ron started firing questions at her, oblivious to the fact that he still held her in his arms.

"Ron…can't breathe…" Hermione sputtered, and Ron dropped her as if burned, turning crimson.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

Hermione, still breathless and shocked by his reception, for once was speechless. The two stood staring at each other, and Harry noticed that Hermione's face was glowing. She reached out and squeezed Ron's hand, saying softly, "I'm glad to see you too."

Ron's face turned even redder, and he seemed at a loss as to how to respond. He settled for rumpling his hair. Hermione looked away shyly then spotted Harry hovering on the stairs.

"HARRY!"

Hermione ran down the hall to him and gave him a big hug. Harry hugged her back, very glad to see her. She released him and took a step back. "I see you did a little shopping," she smiled slyly at him. "Very nice."

Harry pulled a face, then grinned at her. "How was your trip?" he began, before being interrupted by Ron clearing his throat.

"I'll just take these upstairs, shall I?" he said, as he hauled the trunk past them up the stairs as quickly as he was able.

At that moment, Ginny came bounding out of the parlor. "Harry! Guess what? Dad's ….HERMIONE!"

Hermione hugged her in turn, and Ginny grabbed her hand, pulling her upstairs and apparently forgetting whatever she had to tell Harry regarding her conversation with Mr. Weasley.

"How was New York? Was it terribly sophisticated? You look fabulous! Did you buy a lot of clothes?" Ginny's rapid-fire questions were even more relentless than Ron's, and Harry remembered how the Weasley boys had always assured him that Ginny was a regular chatterbox at home. Slightly relieved at her distraction, he gave up Hermione as lost to Ginny's curiosity for at least a few hours, and went downstairs to tell Mrs.Weasley they would need another plate for dinner.

 

******

  

Mrs. Weasley was bustling about the supper, and Harry stayed to help her find the dishes and set the table. It was nice watching her flit about the kitchen as if she enjoyed it, smiling and talking, rather than the silent pinched expression his aunt wore when she prepared their meals at Privet Drive.

"I suppose the girls are still catching up," said Mrs.Weasley, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "Harry, be a dear and go call them for supper, would you? It'll be ready very soon."

Harry started off up the stairs, his stomach growling with hunger. It was good to see Hermione again, and he was surprised, but pleased, that Ron had shown more exuberance than he would have expected at her arrival. Ron had disappeared in embarrassment after his initial outburst, and Harry wasn't sure where in the big house he had hidden. He continued on up the stairs to the third floor, and went down the hall to the room the girls shared.

Harry paused at the door before knocking, and quite clearly heard the two girls laughing.

"He _WHAT_?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Hair dripping, only a towel," Ginny replied, breathless, "I swear, Hermione, I almost died right there on the spot!"

"And after what happened earlier," Hermione said, and Harry felt his cheeks burning.

Obviously Ginny was telling Hermione about what had happened a few days ago, and he was mortified. He wanted to bolt, but realized that Mrs. Weasley was expecting them all downstairs.

He again raised his hand to knock, just wanting to get it over with and get back downstairs, when he heard Ginny reply, very softly, "It was quite nice, though, actually."

"GINNY!" Hermione exclaimed, and the laughing started all over again.

"What's going on?"

Ron's voice at his side practically made him jump out of his skin, and he felt himself turn red again.

"Er, nothing, Dinner's ready. Your mum just sent me up to tell the girls. I don't think they heard me knock," he lied quickly, not wanting to be caught again listening at doorways.

"OI! Ron yelled, banging on the door, "GINNY! 'MIONE! Dinner's ready!" The door popped open and Hermione stood there, an expression of irritation on her face. Ron jumped back, startled.

"You don't have to yell," she said crossly, "and where did  _"'Mione"_  come from?"

Ron made a face, ignoring her question. "Harry said you didn't hear him knock. You sound like a couple of hens in there, with all that racket."

" _Nice._  I'm  _so_  glad I bought you a souvenir from New York," Hermione sniped, flouncing her way past them. Ginny followed her out, and turned a bit pink when she realized that Harry was behind Ron. Ron, meanwhile, had a strange expression on his face, and his ears were red.

Harry followed the girls down the stairs, Ron trailing slowly behind. Harry almost bumped into them when Hermione suddenly stopped near the landing.

"Wow."

Hermione's eyes had traveled up to the freshly painted ceiling, and she looked around the hall approvingly. "You've really made a good start here. I didn't notice when I arrived." She blushed slightly, remembering why she had been preoccupied, and Harry noticed a small smile on her face.

Harry stuck his hands in his pockets, looking around at the blank walls. "Remus started it actually," he said, "You should have seen the damage," he added with a wry grin.

Hermione slowly took in his meaning. "I was wondering why there was no shrieking when I came in," she added, with a face. "But how?"

"I have no idea. He wasn't saying and I thought I'd better not ask," Harry replied. "Anyway, I'm glad you approve, because tomorrow we start on the walls."

Hermione's face fell slightly. "Oh," she said, "I was hoping to get a bit of studying in since I lost so much time abroad."

"Well," Harry replied with a grin, "you're on paint duty instead. We have quite a bit of work ahead of us before term starts."

"By hand?" she squeaked. "Just how many rooms are you planning on finishing?"

"You know the rules about underage magic, Madam Prefect," Harry teased. "We do have rollers so it's not all brushwork, but yes, by hand. No one who can do magic has the time."

"Actually, Hermione," Ginny chimed in, coming down the stairs, "It's tremendous fun. Really," she added with a wicked grin at Harry.

Harry rolled his eyes at her remembering the coating of paint he had received earlier that day, while Ron, who had just caught up with them looking slightly more composed than he did upstairs, just laughed. He didn't seem to catch the blush that suddenly crossed both Harry and Ginny's faces when they simultaneously remembered what had happened after the paint fight.

Hermione apparently _had_ , however, and raised a questioning eyebrow.


	8. Bump in the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An uneventful evening turns into a night of unexpected fear

It was a small group for dinner that night as only Mr. Weasley ended up joining them. Harry was thankful that Hermione was now the center of attention, allowing him to just sit quietly and not have to contribute much more than an occasional question about her trip or a simple  _"Please pass…"_  or  _"No, thank you."_ He wasn't particularly in the mood for conversation tonight. It was the quiet times like this where he missed Sirius' presence the most in this house, for he had been the one constant in Grimmauld Place. He found himself gazing sadly at the place at the long table where his godfather had been wont to sit, and only shook himself out of his reverie when Ginny flicked a breadcrumb at him. Thankfully she had been the only one to notice his preoccupation, and she gave him a brief smile before turning back to the conversation.

After dinner they moved into the drawing room, and spent much of Hermione's first evening looking through her album of vacation pictures. She had developed most of them using the  _Animatus_ potion, but there were also some regular Muggle snaps in a separate album. "To show my relatives," Hermione explained. "We took video as well, but I didn't know how I could show you that."

Mr. Weasley was fascinated by them, and kept asking questions about American Muggles. "Amazing, honestly, how they  _don't_  move!" he exclaimed over and over, flipping through the album. "The pictures, I mean, not the Americans," he added absentmindedly. "Now these cameras- they use flim, you said? And batteries? Amazing how many uses Muggles have for batteries. Do American Muggles have different batteries?"

Hermione and Harry shared a grin, and she patiently started to once again explain how a Muggle camera worked to an entranced Mr. Weasley. Mrs.Weasley finally relieved her by asking a question about the subject of another set of pictures, a very tall green monument of a robed woman wearing a spiked crown.

Harry noticed that Ron had unconsciously been following Hermione around all evening, sitting next to her and not once arguing or teasing her about anything, even when she mentioned how one of the highlights of her trip was a visit to the main branch of the New York Public Library.

"Look," she said with a grin, turning a page in her photo album. "It has lions guarding it. I wish I'd brought my Gryffindor scarf with me- it would have made a brilliant picture."

"Brilliant," Ron echoed softly.

Harry couldn't hide his grin when he noticed that Ron seemed much more intent on the small figure of Hermione waving vigorously at him from the picture instead of the stone lion that dwarfed her. He looked up to find that Ginny had noticed as well, and they both ducked their heads in amusement.

When Mr. Weasley once again had Hermione explaining about airplanes and Customs, Mrs. Weasley stood up and gently interrupted him. "Arthur dear, Hermione will have no voice left at all if she's forced to relive any more of her trip tonight," she said, holding up her hand to forestall his protest. "I say we could all use a nice glass of lemonade, and perhaps Hermione would like to give Ron some fresh competition at the chess board." Ron looked up quickly at his mother, unable to hide a brilliant smile even as his ears turned red. Mrs. Weasley smiled back at him. "Ginny, could you give me a hand?" she added as she left the room. Ginny followed her mother out, and Harry, not feeling up to being Mr. Weasley's next source of Muggle trivia followed after them, leaving Mr. Weasley engrossed in looking at the photos again and Hermione and Ron setting up the chess board.

Harry was on the last stair when he heard Mrs. Weasley mutter to her daughter, "I was hoping your father would take the hint, but you know how he is---Oh, Harry dear, you can help Ginny while I get Arthur …er…to do something I need him to do.  I'll just take Ron and Hermione's drinks up with me," she added as she went back up the stairs with two glasses.

"Is she…." Harry began hesitantly, unsuccessfully trying to suppress a grin.

"Yes. Subtle, isn't she?" Ginny laughed, rolling her eyes. "Dad's clueless. Did you see Ron's face? I thought he would just about burst when Mum suggested the chess."

Harry accepted the glass Ginny handed him and sank onto one of the chairs feeling as thought there was something he was forgetting to do.

"Buckbeak!" he suddenly exclaimed, and Ginny whirled around, her face startled. "I forgot to feed him," Harry added, gulping down half his lemonade before getting up. He went down the short hall and out the back door.

"Wait, Harry!" he heard Ginny call after him as he jogged down one of the old overgrown and barely visible flagstone paths. 

When Kreacher had been alive, he had been the only one allowed to do any outside chores. The result was that the property had been neglected for even longer than the house. Harry opened the small gardener's shed off on the side of what had once been the kitchen garden and retrieved the bag of dead rats that were kept there for the Hippogriff before Ginny caught up with him.

"Harry! I forgot to tell you! Dad's agreed!"

Harry turned around to look up at her as he latched the shed. "Agreed to what?" he asked.

"Agreed to take Buckbeak to The Burrow while we're at school! Isn't it brilliant?"

Harry, not wanting to diminish her enthusiasm by explaining that he had already overheard, smiled. "Gin, that's wonderful. Thank you."

"Thank Dad, you mean," she replied, grinning.

"No, thank  _you_ ," Harry answered, dropping the bag and taking her hand. Realizing what he'd done when he saw her look of surprise, he awkwardly dropped her hand and shoved his own into his pockets. "I know that it's your doing and I really appreciate it," he added, glancing at her face before turning his attention to the night sky.

Ginny seemed momentarily embarrassed as well, before replying softly, "It's okay, Harry. That's what friends are for." She moved next to him, and looked up at the sky as well. "I wish we could stay outside for more than a few minutes at a time. I don't see why the wards are any less strong out here."

"I doubt they are. I mean, if the house folds in on itself and disappears, surely the garden goes with it-there's no space at all between 11 and 13 visible from the street after all," Harry replied, his gaze drawn like a magnet to the Dogstar shining brightly overhead. "I think Dumbledore just didn't want Sir…us…to get any ideas about wandering around outside the property and possibly being seen." He felt a dull ache inside as he watched the bright star twinkle as if winking at him.

Ginny followed his gaze, and he felt her squeeze his arm briefly. "Come on, we'd better go in before Mum comes out after us," she said softly.

Harry sighed, then nodded. They made their way quickly back up the path just as the back door opened to reveal Mrs. Weasley silhouetted against the faint light from the kitchen.

"What _are_ you doing out here?" she hissed, ushering them through the door and down the hall.

"I had to go get some more rats for Buckbeak," Harry said roughly, still not in complete control of his emotions. "He needs to be fed," he added, rushing past her and up the stairs and leaving Ginny to fend for herself against her mother's temper.

  

*****

 

Harry had taken to spending some time with Buckbeak at every feeding, realizing that the beast enjoyed having company. Mrs. Weasley had magically cleaned out the room for him a few days back, and it now smelled much better. When Buckbeak had finally finished his meal, Harry cleaned up as best he could without magic and took out the grooming brush he'd found in the wardrobe. The Hippogriff also enjoyed being groomed, and Harry, although feeling a bit silly at first, had starting talking to him as he worked. Sirius had once assured him that Buckbeak seemed to understand what he said, and Harry believed it.

"Hermione's back," he said quietly as he stroked the gleaming back coat with the brush. "You remember her- she helped me free you. She'll probably be up to see you tomorrow. Ginny said to tell you she was sorry she hadn't been up to visit," he added, grinning as Buckbeak started to almost preen. The Hippogriff had taken a liking to Ginny, and made a soft noise of approval whenever Harry mentioned her name. "She's been very busy helping us, and she has plans for you." Buckbeak regarded him with a baleful eye. "Good plans," Harry added with a grin, and the beast let out a soft caw. He was glad Ginny had succeeded in convincing her father; as much as he now enjoyed looking after Buckbeak, he knew that the beast would be happier at _The Burrow_. "Ron's very happy Hermione's back," Harry added, smiling. "I think he's finally figured out that he's been missing her."

Buckbeak's only reply was a squawk.

 

*****

 

After he finished with Buckbeak, Harry decided to turn in for the night instead of going back downstairs. He knew he ought to be polite and go and say his 'goodnights,' but he just didn't have the energy. He changed his clothes and lay on his bed for awhile, trying to read but really thinking first about Buckbeak's future and later on about the way Ginny's eyes has reflected the starlight. He shook himself out of  _that_  reverie when Ron finally came upstairs. He had insisted that Hermione play several games of chess, and Harry hid a smile at the somewhat goofy expression on Ron's face.

"Did you win them all?" Harry asked, as Ron started to change his clothes for bed.

"Hmmm? Oh, the usual. Hermione lost again. I really don't know why she even bothers," he added, grinning madly.

"She enjoys the challenge-you  _might_  lose some day. Or maybe she's just a sucker for punishment," Harry said. "Or _maybe_ she just enjoys your company," he added quietly, watching Ron's expression.

Ron's ears turned red, and he made a face before climbing into bed and turning out the lamp.

   

*****

 

Once again Harry found himself lying in the dark, unable to sleep and listening to Ron's snoring. He glanced across at the empty couch, and smiled.  Ginny would have Hermione for company now and wouldn't need it anymore. It was strange but he had almost expected to hear her light footsteps entering the room. He suddenly remembered his new cd player and got up to look for it in his trunk. He pulled out a few discs, but nothing seemed to relax him enough to sleep.

Finally deciding it was pointless to toss and turn, he grabbed his glasses, got up quietly and crept out of the room. _'Maybe something to drink,'_ he thought idly, as he started down the hall. 

He stopped at the top of the landing when he heard quiet voices and Mrs. Weasley's worried voice.

"Bring him in, quickly," she said, trying to keep her voice low. "Into the drawing room."

Harry silently crept down the stairs to the second landing hoping to see what was happening, but only heard the closing of the drawing room door followed soon after by the sound of the front door latch. He felt a hand on his arm, and looked around startled to see Ginny standing next to him. Obviously she still couldn't sleep either. "What's happening?" she whispered.

"I dunno," he replied, "but I think someone's been hurt. C'mon." He started down the stairs, Ginny following close behind. He realized she must be worried that it was one of her brothers, and he reached for her hand, gave it a quick squeeze, and forgot to let go. 

They opened the drawing room door to see Tonks pacing wildly back and forth in the room, wringing her hands. "Some Auror I am! I could've gotten him _killed!_ "

Harry started into the room. "Remus!" he cried, seeing his guardian sprawled on the couch, blood seeping through his robes. He felt Ginny's hand tighten in his own, holding him back. He glared at her, but she shook her head.

"Mum needs the room," she said, and Harry stopped, feeling helpless.

Remus was conscious, although obviously in pain. He kept trying to quiet Tonks while Mrs. Weasley bustled about with his robes and bandages. "But you _didn’t_ get me killed," he managed in a raspy voice. "It could've just as easily happened to me…"

"You _know_ that's not true!" she snapped.

"Tonks," he began, before she interrupted him again.

"It's _my_ fault- if I hadn't tripped…" but Remus had managed to weakly grab her hand as she paced past him.

" _Dora,"_ he pleaded. Tonks froze when Remus called her name softly, and Harry was surprised at Remus' use of this nickname. She turned a tearstained face at him, and Harry began to wonder just what kind of relationship was between them. She had dropped her usual colorful and tough façade, and stood there in what Harry assumed must be her natural state.  The resemblance to Sirius was startling. Her finely boned features, long black hair, grey eyes and pale skin so much looked like a female version of her cousin that Harry choked.

"I'll be _fine_ ," Remus said quietly, now that he had her attention, but it wasn't for long, as he then passed out.

Tonks wiped her eyes on her sleeve much as a child would, and Harry knew exactly how she felt, being the cause of someone else's pain, someone almost getting killed. Only in his own case someone  _had_  gotten killed.  He looked away.

Mrs. Weasley interrupted his thoughts. "I wish we had a trained Healer in the Order-this is beyond me. It's all I can do to keep the bleeding staunched. He should never have gone so soon after a transformation- he's not strong enough." She turned to Tonks. "I hope Arthur was able to contact Alastor…?"

Tonks nodded. "He never sleeps anyway- I'm sure they're already with the boys looking after the few we left behind. Those other DE's _apparated_ out and left them lying there," she said, with a look of disgust.

Mrs. Weasley looked very worried. "He really ought to be in St. Mungo's," she said, but Tonks shook her head miserably.

"I couldn't take him there," she said. "Since the others got away and they know one of us was hit, they'll definitely have spies there waiting for an emergency curse victim."

Mrs. Weasley suddenly became aware of Ginny and Harry hovering in the doorway. "Ginny! Fetch me some blankets, he's going into shock," she said quickly. Ginny dashed out of the room. She turned to Harry. "In your room, there's a portrait," she began.

"Phineas? "You need Dumbledore?" Harry interrupted, and Mrs. Weasley, somewhat surprised, nodded. He was out of the room and up the stairs as fast as he feet could carry him.

He burst into the room, yelling "PHINEAS!"

Ron bolted awake. "What's wrong?" he asked, half-falling out of bed and grabbing instinctively at his bedside table for his wand.

Harry was at the portrait, which was completely dark. He heard Ron say, " _Lumos_ ," and a soft light lit the room. "Harry, what is it?"

"Remus," Harry said shortly. "He's been injured. I need to get in touch with Dumbledore. PHINEAS!" he yelled again at the portrait, anxiously tapping the canvas with his wand. Suddenly they heard the grumbling voice of the old Headmaster.

"No need to bellow," he muttered angrily, sliding into the frame, looking half asleep. "Young people always think _everything_ is desperate…."

Harry interrupted him. "I need Professor Dumbledore now! There's been an injury! Please tell him."

Phineas' expression became more serious. "He's not here," he replied. "I will start the search for him, but it may take awhile." He disappeared out of the frame before Harry could say anything else.

Ron was up now, and talking in a low voice to Hermione, who stood looking very startled in the doorway.

_'Not Remus-not another death, please not so soon,'_  Harry thought miserably, running a hand through his hair. This was taking too much time-time that Remus possibly didn't have. "Fawkes!" he exclaimed suddenly.

"What?" Ron asked, startled.

"Fawkes!" Harry repeated. If Fawkes is there…"

Ron understood immediately. "Right," he said. "Floo-Powder. Hermione," he began, but she already had her wand out and was conjuring a fire in their empty fireplace.

" _Incendio! "_ she cried, watching as the bright flames leapt up. "I hope they don't catch this," she added under her breath.

Ron grinned at her and ran out the door. They could hear him call  _"Accio floo-powder!"_  as he raced down the hall. He was back in minutes carrying a small jar and threw a handful of powder into the crackling flames. Harry stuck his head into the now green fire, saying loudly, "Professor Dumbledore's office, Hogwarts!"

After the usual nauseating whirl he found his head in the headmaster's fireplace, and glanced around the empty room until he saw Fawkes sitting on his perch. The bird trilled a greeting when he recognized Harry.

"Fawkes," Harry said, "I need your help. I need Professor Dumbledore- can you bring him to me? Do you understand?"

Fawkes flew closer to the fireplace, cocking his head quizzically.

"I _need_ Dumbledore," Harry replied, trying to put as much faith as he could muster in his voice and heart that the great wizard could help Remus.  Fawkes suddenly fluttered his wings and disappeared in a flash.

Startled, Harry sat back on the floor and shook the soot out of his hair.

"Well?" Hermione asked.

"I dunno," Harry replied. "He just bolted. I'm not sure if he understood…"

With that they all froze as a surprised shriek came from downstairs. Harry, Ron and Hermione all flew down the corridor and the stairs. Tearing into the drawing room, wand raised, Harry stopped abruptly as he saw Fawkes swooping in to land by Remus. Mrs. Weasley was on the floor, having apparently been startled off her feet by the bird's sudden appearance. The apparition wards having no effect on the phoenix, he had simply appeared in the middle of the drawing room with Professor Dumbledore in tow.

Dumbledore was calmly straightening his robes. "Fawkes informs me that Harry requested my presence here," he said, giving Mrs. Weasley a hand up.

The phoenix had landed on the couch and was eyeing Remus with what appeared to be some concern. Dumbledore magicked a small stool to sit on, and began to unwrap the bandages Mrs. Weasley had applied. He looked to Tonks, who had seemed to regain some of her composure.

"Do you know what curse was used?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"I'd never heard it before," Tonks replied seriously. "The accent was strong as well. I expect I'd be dead if Remus hadn't shoved me out of the way."

Harry moved closer and was appalled by the long ugly gash that sliced across Remus bare but heavily scarred chest. With a flick of his wand, Dumbledore reinforced Mrs. Weasley's spell to keep the blood clotting. Remus had lost quite a bit of blood and was paler than even Snape.

Harry could hear Hermione's sharp intake of breath, her hand instinctively tracing the scar she bore from the Ministry fight. Ron stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, and Ginny had moved over to stand by Tonks.

Fawkes let out a soft trill, and walked his way down the back of the couch to perch on the blankets covering Remus. Harry watched with fascination as the phoenix bent his head over the wound, letting fall a large tear. Where the tear fell, the skin quickly started to fuse together in the same way that the phoenix had healed Harry's basilisk wound in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry's eyes went to Ginny, and she smiled, tears in her eyes, realizing what he was remembering.

Dumbledore sat back, smiling. "Thank you, Fawkes," he said, addressing the bird. "Better than Poppy could do." He looked up at Mrs.Weasley. "Remus should rest for a few days, preferably with a sleeping draught if he wakes tonight," he said, pulling up the blankets.

Fawkes trilled softly, then flew over to land on the back of a chair next to Harry. He reached out, and stroked the phoenix's glossy feathers. "Thank you, Fawkes," he whispered, his throat tight, but his insides unclenching at the phoenix's touch. Hermione reached out and squeezed his free hand, and he smiled at her.

"Well, that's a mercy," said Mrs. Weasley with a sigh. "But how did he know Harry wanted Professor Dumbledore?" she asked, puzzled.

"Er…" Harry began, realizing that they had reached Fawkes by rather unorthodox means.

"I used unauthorized magic, Professor," Hermione said, stepping forward. "I lit a fire in Harry's grate and we flooed…"

"Oh hell! I did too!" Ron blurted out suddenly. "I used my wand to light the room when Harry ran in. Summoned the floo-powder as well. I've only just remembered."

"It was my idea," Harry broke in. "I didn’t think we had time to wait for Phineas to locate you. It won't cause any trouble, will it?"

"Trouble? Ha!"

Harry looked up, surprised to find that Phineas Nigellus had just appeared in the large landscape painting on the wall. "Impatience always breeds trouble," he growled. "I see you are here, Dumbledore. Was it worth all the fuss?"

"It was an entirely appropriate response, and yes, everything is now in order. Thank you for your aid, Phineas. If you wish to retire, please feel free."

Phineas glowered darkly, then strolled off out of the painting's visible canvas.

Dumbledore now regarded Harry, Ron and Hermione with a smile. "You three always do work best as a team. As for your unauthorized use of magic, no, I do not think there will be any problems. There are many different kinds of wards around this house, which is why it is perfect for The Order."

"Do you mean we could've been using magic here all this time and no one would even know?" Ron burst out, shocked.

Dumbledore eyed him, trying not to smile again. "I do not authorize _any_ use of underage magic in this house," he said, in a mock-stern voice. " _Unless_ there is another emergency," he added. "Now, I need to speak to Nymphadora; Remus needs to be left undisturbed, and you all need to go back to bed."

Harry glanced back at Remus, now breathing regularly and peacefully asleep. He let out a sigh of relief, shot a sympathetic glance to Tonks, who still looked miserable, before following the others out of the room. Remus was alive, but it had been close, and this was only the beginning. He reached the bottom of the staircase, then turned back.

"Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes, Harry," the old wizard replied softly, stepping out into the hall.

"I'd, er…like to apologize. For trashing your office at the end of term, Sir. It was… inappropriate behavior, and I'm sorry."

Dumbledore gazed at him from over the top of his spectacles. "There's no need to apologize, Harry."

Harry sensed that as the old man spoke he relaxed some hidden tension, and that a shadow of the old twinkle had returned to his eyes. Perhaps Dumbledore had been carrying the weight of what had happened in the spring more heavily than Harry had realized.

"As I said at the time, I have far too many trinkets," he added with a smile. "Set your mind at ease, and get some sleep." He reached out, hesitated for a moment, then gave Harry's shoulder a brief squeeze, and went back into the drawing room.

"Yes, Sir. Goodnight," Harry called softly after him. He felt relieved that while he still hadn't completely forgiven the old man for what had happened with Sirius and himself, he had at least stopped feeling that awful snake-like hatred every time he was near Dumbledore. He turned back toward the stairs. As he climbed, he could hear the others above him.

"Wonder where they were-what they were up to," Ron said in a soft voice as they climbed the second flight.

"I wonder who Tonks meant by ' _the boys,_ '" Ginny replied, and Harry saw Ron and his sister exchange worried glances.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrestled with the idea of The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black having a back garden, and I would like to thank Starsea and Anne D. on the "12 Grimmauld Place" forum (at the old SQ) and my beta reader Beth for their helpful input. I decided to run with my initial idea for three reasons: I can't bear to think that they have to keep the nasty bags of dead rats in the house; I wanted Ginny and Harry to have a moment somewhere private, and because I decided that it was fairly unlikely that the Black family would condescend to use the public green across the square which might possibly be shared with Blood Traitors, Abominations, or even, Merlin forbid, Muggles. It is London, after all. Any canon purists need not fear, I don't expect it will feature much, as I have great plans for a conservatory. Besides at this point canon is pretty much out the window anyway...


	9. Cold Light of Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morning brings a day full of revelations...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The distribution of this story is for personal use only. Any other form of distribution is prohibited without the consent of the author. The usual fanfic copyright disclaimers- everyone and everything in here belongs to J.K. Rowling, no money is being made and no infringement is implied. This one goes out to all those "shippers" out there. When this was written it was all still up for debate ;)

The next morning Harry and Ron woke early, not having had more than a few hours of restless sleep. They had lay awake for a long time discussing various theories about how Remus had been injured, and what the rest of The Order were actually doing in the fight against Voldemort. As they got dressed, Ron continued on with their conversation as if they had never stopped.

"It sounded like the Death Eaters already have some foreign recruits here. How the bloody hell are we supposed to fight against dark curses when we can't even understand what they're saying?" he asked in exasperation.

Harry could only shake his head, feeling just as helpless as Ron did. It was scary to think how close Tonks and Remus had come close to being killed, and they were fully trained wizards. Harry's stomach constricted at the thought that somehow he was expected to destroy Voldemort, with these kinds of odds against him.

"Ruddy Bulgarian, probably," Ron muttered under his breath, and Harry couldn't suppress a snort. Leave it to Ron to see Krum behind every Death Eater mask.

"Come on," Harry said, "let's go down and see if anyone is up yet."

They went downstairs, and peeked into the drawing room. Remus had been left to sleep on the couch, and Tonks and Mrs. Weasley were sound asleep in chairs.

Wordlessly, Harry and Ron stepped back from the door, and made their way down to the kitchen. They found Ginny cooking breakfast, Hermione pouring over a DADA text, and a very exhausted-looking Fred and George drinking tea.

"Ah,  _'The Boys,'_ " Ron said, trying to hide his relief with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Ginny turned around to grin at him.

"Well, some of them," Fred yawned, stretching. "The real Aurors get the glory, we just go along for the grunt work."

"What happened?" Harry asked, but Fred was yawning again so George answered.

"Unfortunately, we can't say," he teased, with a bit of a grin. "I know, I know," he relented, forestalling Harry and Ron's protests. "Officially, a group of Ministry Aurors broke up a Death Eater meeting, taking several men in for questioning. More than that we really can't say, because we honestly don't know what the meeting was about." He took another swig of tea and Fred continued in a low voice without missing a beat.

"Unofficially, however, we heard that Remus has been putting out some feelers among the werewolf community to try and find out their position in Voldemort's plans. He and Dung got a tip about a possible DE meeting with them. Tonks and Shacklebolt went with them, and all hell broke loose when she tripped over something."

"That much we heard last night," Harry said, silently taking the cup of tea Ginny handed to him. "Was it a werewolf meeting?" he asked, but George shook his head.

"Not sure, but there were definitely some foreign recruits there," he said.  "They've been hauled off for questioning-probably to Azkaban. One's identity we'll never know, as he was dead when we got there."

"Dead?" Ginny blurted out. "I thought they were only stunned," she added, looking pale.

George shook his head. "Must've cracked his head hard when he went down. He was dead by the time we got there."

Hermione, who had been paging furiously through her book, sat back with a loud sigh. "Well, I can't find anything. I mean, it looked like the same type of scar I had, but mine didn't bleed like that. I can't find any mention of a curse with those characteristics…."

"Maybe you should write to  _Vicky_  and ask  _him_ ," Ron muttered sarcastically from behind the rim of his teacup.

Hermione heard him, and glared. "Ron," she began, but Fred stopped her.

"I'm too tired to listen to one of your rows," he said, rising to his feet. "C'mon, Forge," he said, "we have a shop to open. No rest for the wicked."

"But I thought you wanted to eat," Ginny began, in an exasperated voice.

_"Time is…"_  Fred began, before Ginny interrupted.

" _Galleons._  Yes, we know."

Fred gave Ginny a quick kiss on the top of her head and stole a piece of bacon from the pan. "Thanks for the tea, Ginny-luv. Tell Mum we're in one piece…"

"Well, two actually," George pointed out while munching on a piece of bread.

"…and we'll be along later to see how Moony is," Fred finished, without missing a beat. "Dad and Bill went straight to work, they'll be in tonight too- there's a meeting planned."

"Now _behave_ , children," George said with a wink as he started up the stairs. Ron threw a bit of toast at him, which Fred batted away with the easy reflexes of a Beater.

Hermione looked about to start in on Ron again, when he suddenly interrupted her.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he said quietly, and she froze, her mouth open. "I'll just nick upstairs and see if Mum wants some tea." He grabbed a cup and took the stairs two at a time.

Ginny and Harry looked at each other, surprised. They both turned and stared at Hermione, who had closed her mouth and sat there, pink-cheeked. "I think I'll just put this book away," she said softly, and followed Ron upstairs.

*****

Harry and Ginny had ended up eating breakfast alone, as neither Ron nor Hermione had returned. Ginny had gone upstairs to check on her mum, but had returned bearing the cup of now cold tea Ron had left beside his mother's chair.

"They're all still asleep," she said, pouring the tea down the drain. "Remus looks awfully pale, and I bet Tonks has a stiff neck from the way she's asleep in that chair." She turned around, indicating the teapot, and Harry nodded for a refill. "Did you see how upset she was last night?

"Yeah, I did," Harry replied, handing her his cup.

"I didn't realize they were _that_ close," she said, pouring the tea for him.

"I don't think it matters how close you are to someone," Harry said quietly. "It's just awful to be responsible for anyone getting hurt." He saw Ginny flinch slightly, a pained expression on her face before she quickly turned back to the sink. Harry mentally smacked himself. ' _How could I be that stupid?'_  He stood up and walked over to her. She was staring at the dishes in the sink, lost in memory.

"Gin, I'm _sorry_ , I wasn't thinking. Of course _you_ know," he began, reaching out a hand and tentatively touching her arm. "I forget sometimes, that I'm not the only one who feels responsible for…well, you know," he trailed off miserably.

She looked up at him with a sad expression. "I'm really,  _really_  sorry about Sirius, Harry. I know how you must feel, but it wasn't your fault," she whispered, placing her other hand gently on his where it still rested on her arm.

Harry bit back an angry retort, realizing that she probably _did_ know how he felt. He found himself searching her dark eyes and finding a pain that answered his own, a sympathy born of experience and not of pity.

_'I could get lost in those eyes_ ,' he decided.

Alarmed at that thought and the tingling sensation of her hand resting on his own, he quickly backed up. "Er, I guess I should go find Ron," he stammered.

Ginny nodded, her eyes never leaving his. Harry tried a brief smile before turning to go back upstairs, forcing himself not to run.

When he reached the landing, he found that he had no desire to make good his excuse and look for Ron right away and went through one of the little-used doors at the end of the hall instead. He wandered through a few of the rooms that were still draped in sheets, unused but decontaminated. Passing through another door, he discovered a very dusty library, and wondered if Hermione knew about this room. He assumed not, or that Remus had declared it off-limits until the contents could be evaluated for dangerous Dark Arts books, since it seemed relatively undisturbed. He made a mental note to come back and investigate it when he was in a more coherent state. He paused in the center of the room, eyes scanning but not really seeing the books on the shelves.

_'Why does Ginny make me react so strangely?'_

He thought hard. She didn't have the same effect that Cho had on him- it was a different feeling entirely. Yet, if he was honest with himself, he had very much wanted to kiss her just now in the kitchen. He pushed the thought out of his head.

He wandered further into the room, toward the shuttered windows that only let in a gloomy sort of light, gazing at the rain through the cracks. Ginny was Ron's sister. After what happened to Sirius, it was obvious that anyone Harry had a relationship with was in danger, and he wasn't going to push her to the top of Voldemort's list if he suspected Harry favored her.

_'No,'_  he told himself,  _'Ginny's off-limits. Actually, any girl would be,'_  he realized grimly.

He thought with sudden longing of the way Ginny's hair caught the firelight, the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed, and the way she had looked as she slept in the moonlight. How she made him laugh and had been so kind when he was upset. How she seemed to understand how he felt. He had been bedazzled by Cho, but he now realized that he'd never thought about her the way he was now daydreaming about Ginny. Ginny was _real_. He knew her in a way he'd never really known Cho. Cho was a crush, but Ginny, well, Harry was afraid that Ginny could very easily turn into more than just the good friend she had recently become.

_'Wait- she's supposed to be seeing Dean, isn't she?'_

He'd almost forgotten. Dean was a friend. Ginny hadn't mentioned him since they'd all been at Grimmauld Place, but Harry had no way of knowing if she was corresponding with him, or if she had seen him earlier in the summer when she was back at _The Burrow_. He sighed, and again, closed himself off in the way that he had kept himself numb all summer. He couldn't let himself fall for her- it wasn't right.

He continued on to the other end of the room, and opened the door at the far end. It led down yet another darkened passage and Harry wondered just how big this house really was. It was odd to think that it now belonged to him; after spending his first eleven years in a cupboard the idea of owning an entire house was overwhelming. He passed more shuttered windows as he walked, kicking up small clouds of dust. Peering again through the cracks, he saw the remains of a garden, and realized that he must be along the back outside wall of the house. The corridor ended again at another heavy door. 

Harry paused at the doorway, before pushing it open. He was unfamiliar with this wing of the house, and had never been down this hallway before which led to another short corridor ending in a double set of glass doors. Hearing voices, he realized the doors were cracked open, and listened, identifying Ron and Hermione speaking softly. Harry silently pushed the doors open, then stopped, surprised to see what appeared to be the long deserted remains of a conservatory. A soft light filtered through the filthy glass panels. The garden beds were all empty, as was the small fountain carved in the shape of two entwined snakes at its center. Ron and Hermione were perched, their backs to the door, on the fountain pool's rim.  Harry started to walk toward them, but froze at Ron's next words.

"I'm _really_ worried, Hermione," Ron said, "about _both_ of them. I mean, I know Harry's trying to act normal, but then I catch an…I dunno… an…emptiness in his eyes. I remember seeing the same type of look in Ginny's eyes that summer after the Chamber. And now she's been having dreams again," he added morosely.

Hermione tentatively reached out and touched his arm, tracing one of the ugly scars that remained from Ron's attack at the Ministry, before sliding her hand down to take his. Ron's ears turned pink, but he didn't look at her.

Harry felt himself frozen to the spot. Once again he found himself listening at doorways, yet somehow he couldn't move, couldn't interrupt. The brief surge of anger he initially felt when he realized they were discussing him had faded as soon as Ron mentioned Ginny's troubles.

"Ron," Hermione began softly, "I know you're worried- I am too. We're doing all we can, and …"

"But are we?" he interrupted, tensely. "They still tell us next to nothing, and now Remus is injured. It could've been one of my brothers, and I sit here trapped just like Sirius- unable to help. Painting hallways…" he trailed off.

Hermione flinched at the mention of Sirius' name. Her expression then changed to the one she usually wore when patiently trying to explain some homework problem to Ron for the sixth time. "Ron, we're _here_ for Harry, and that's all we can do right now. You know it's driving him mad too, but I think he's actually been trying to accept the situation."

Ron inhaled deeply, as if screwing up his courage. "Harry reckons we're all in danger because of him. That's why he tries so hard to shut himself off." He glanced furtively at her, a wan smile on his face. "I'm not a complete git, I do notice some things." He once again dropped his gaze to the floor. "But I keep thinking about what happened last time, and it's not just people that are close to Harry that'll be targets, no matter what he thinks. Mum lost her two brothers last time 'round, and they were purebloods. Some people will be targets just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or just because of who or what they are," he said softly.

Hermione eyed him thoughtfully. "You mean people like me?" she finally replied, her voice barely a whisper.

Ron swung his eyes up to meet hers, and the exposed pain showing on his face startled Harry.

"I couldn't bear it, honestly, Hermione, if anything happened to you," Ron finally managed.

Hernione's mouth opened in a quick intake of breath. "Ron," she began softly, but was interrupted by Ron slowly bringing his hand up to shyly caress her cheek.

"I…I just wanted you to know that," Ron said, "you know, in case anything happens. To me, I mean, because I won't let anything or anyone hurt you again. I blew it in the Ministry-it won't happen twice," he said in a quietly determined voice.

"You didn't blow it…" she began, before his finger on her lips stopped her.

It was Hermione's turn to blush, but her gaze never left Ron's. His fingers had left her lips, and had traveled to her wild curls. Slowly, he leaned in, closing the gap between them, and kissed her.

Harry backed silently away from the door, embarrassed, and made his way as quickly as possible down the hall.  When he rounded the corner, he stopped to catch his breath, and after a few moments of shock couldn't help but smile. "About time," he muttered.

*****

The house remained quiet for most of the day- the hall painting was abandoned and Mrs. Weasley and Tonks had been persuaded after finally eating to go upstairs and rest properly. Ron and Hermione were still off by themselves, and Ginny had taken charge in her mother's absence and stayed in the kitchen preparing for an early supper before the meeting scheduled for that evening. Harry offered to help, but she asked him to instead go and check on Remus. When he went upstairs, he noticed 'the patient' was now awake.

"Er…Remus?" Harry said softly, hesitating in the doorway, not sure if he was in the mood for company.

Remus was still parked on the couch under orders from Mrs. Weasley not to budge without her consent. He closed the book he had been reading and placed it on the floor beside him before giving Harry his full attention. "Yes, Harry?" he replied with a smile, "Come in. Pull up a chair."

Harry dragged a chair over and sat down. "Are you feeling better?"

"Well, I feel like a full moon without wolfsbane, but otherwise…" Remus shrugged instead of finishing the thought. "By the way- I understand I have _you_ to thank for calling Fawkes here. It was very quick thinking, Harry, and much appreciated. There's too much to do for me to be laid up for a long time, and too many questions would have been asked by the Healers."

Harry grinned awkwardly, reaching up to push back his fringe. They sat in silence for a few moments. Harry had been itching to speak to Remus quietly since they had come to Grimmauld Place, but now that he had the opportunity he wasn't quite sure how to begin. He took a deep breath and finally spoke. "I was just wondering…er, I mean, well, Sirius and I never really got a chance to talk about my parents much," he trailed off, trying to gauge Remus's reaction.

"Snape's pensieve really upset you, didn't it?" Remus interrupted, looking very intent. "As I told you then, James was never an angel, but you have to remember that a pensieve holds the memories of a person, and that person's point of view would certainly color the reality of a situation." He paused for a minute. "If I had a pensieve," he said softly, "you'd probably see the same event from a very different viewpoint, and if it had been Sirius' memories, I doubt very much that you would have felt at all sorry for Snape. Well, perhaps a little- he did regret quite a few of his actions," he added with a wan smile.

Harry nodded. "Well, it's not just that," he said after a few moments. "I was thinking that you're the last one who was close to my parents, and…" Harry stopped abruptly, seeing Remus flinch slightly. Harry decided to just press on while his nerve was up.

"Why didn't you tell me when we first met that you were a close friend of theirs? Why do you never speak of them? I mean, I realize Sirius was preoccupied being here, and I know you're busy so it's not like we had that many opportunities, but I've actually known you longer than I knew him. I mean, a whole year went by at school and you never said anything," he said in a rush, wishing he had phrased it better.

Remus settled himself more comfortably on the couch, and seemed lost in thought. He closed his eyes for a few moments and breathed deeply. Harry wondered if he was in pain and if this had been a bad idea.

"To be completely frank with you, Harry, I think I was a bit in shock when I first met you. As you've heard more times than you probably care to, you are the image of your father, and that, in combination with being back at Hogwarts…Sirius having escaped…I…think I was afraid of confusing you with James. So much that I had buried was thrust at me again. So I kept my distance. It was my way, I suppose, of separating you from your father, because every time I saw you my heart tightened just a bit after I saw your eyes." He paused again, before continuing. "I suppose guilt had something to do with it as well."

"But why guilt? Harry asked, puzzled.

"Guilt at being the only one to survive. Guilt at not having been able to save any of them." He smirked slyly at Harry. "I suspect in that regard we have much in common."

Harry smirked back at him. "Hermione's read me the riot act about my _'saving people thing,'_ no fear."

"Ah. I expect she's been spending too much time with Molly," Remus answered with a wicked grin. Harry snorted.

"Sirius and I used to talk about sitting down with you and telling you all about the Marauders, and your mum," he said with a sad smile. "There was too much happening at Christmas, and, well… we _had_ thought we'd have more time." He stopped again, the pain from more than his physical wounds showing on his face. "Now it's left to me." He exhaled softly, then looked up. "As I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, I suppose now is a good time to start. Well, where to begin?" He seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Hagrid made you an album, didn't he?" he finally asked, and Harry nodded.

"Would you like to see it?" he asked, and Remus nodded. "Be right back then," Harry said, and dashed upstairs.

Ron wasn't in their room, and Harry grinned as he rooted through his trunk. Ron and Hermione were probably off somewhere trying for a little privacy. He was enjoying knowing their secret now that he was over the shock that Ron had finally made a move. At lunch they pretended nothing had changed between them, and Harry played along, knowing that when they were comfortable themselves with their feelings, they would surely tell him. He would save his teasing for then. But he couldn't help but grin again at the memory of their goofy expressions and bumbling embarrassment when they had finally emerged from the conservatory for the mid-day meal.

Finding the album, he closed his trunk and hurried back downstairs. Remus was staring out the window wearing a wistful expression, lost in his memories. Harry hesitated at the door. Remus, without shifting his gaze however, was apparently aware of his presence, and began to speak softly. "I was thinking while you were upstairs. I'm not used to having money-certainly not for extravagances- but perhaps, if I come across one-perhaps I could pick up a pensieve of my own. I could share some of  _my_  memories of your parents and Sirius- if you'd like…" He trailed off, but looked up to meet Harry's gaze.

"I'd…I'd really like that. Thank you," Harry said softly.

"In the meantime," Remus said with a smile, "Let's see what we can do with this." He took the well-used album and it flipped open to the photo of Sirius and Harry's parents at their wedding. Remus smiled wistfully. "You might have wondered, Harry, why I'm not in any of these."

Harry smiled. "Actually, I did notice."

Remus grinned back. "That's because Sirius was a big ham, and I usually ended up taking the photographs. These wedding photos are the ones I sent Hagrid when he wrote me. Your mother always said I was the only one whom she would allow to photograph her- she said Sirius tried to make her look bad on purpose." He gently reached down a finger as if to touch her smiling face, yet pulled back. "I adored her. She was so full of life, and so good for James." He looked up with a slightly guilty expression. "There is one of James, Sirius and I that Peter took, but I kept that. Remind me to show it to you sometime," he added, his voice barely hesitating when he mentioned the fourth Marauder.

"Remus," Harry began softly, again screwing up the courage to voice long unspoken questions, "Why did you never try to see me…or contact me?"

Remus stiffened, then sighed. "As you no doubt… _no doubt_  realize now, losing your closest friends…your family…it's like no other pain imaginable. Your parents, Sirius…even Peter, were all I had left in the world that I could really call family, and when I lost them all at once…well…." His hesitant words finally trailed off into silence for a few moments.

Harry dropped his gaze and waited for Remus to regain his composure.

"Voldemort was gone," he finally began again in a low voice, "The Order all but destroyed and the remains likely to be soon disbanded. I just…left. I knew what Dumbledore had arranged for you, and frankly, I thought there was really no reason for me to stay. You were to be kept hidden as much as possible from the wizarding world- Dumbledore was very clear on that- and I was in no state emotionally to be of any use anyway. So I left."

"Where did you go?"

At this, Remus actually smiled. "Everywhere I could. Away from Europe at first- I'd had enough of death, darkness and ancient prejudice. I worked my passage across to Canada, then traveled south through the Americas, working odd jobs mostly, although I did have a few teaching posts." His face darkened a bit. "They rarely lasted too long- it's not easy hiding lyncanthropy in the best of situations, and there are very few Albus Dumbledores willing to take a chance on a werewolf as a professor. I eventually made my way to Asia for awhile, before I was finally ready to come home. As time went on, I found myself more and more drawn to studying Defense against the Dark Arts, as if I somehow could feel the darkness growing and spreading again. There is nowhere far enough in the world to hide from it, Harry," he said sadly.

He paused again, and held Harry's eyes intently. "You must never think that I ever forgot about you, or didn't care what happened to you. I kept in touch with Dumbledore when I could, and every July I would think about how old you were, and wonder if you were happy. Of course every Halloween I was a disaster," he added with a sad laugh. "When I realized that you would be starting Hogwarts-that's when I knew I needed to come home. I never expected to be your teacher though- I just thought I should be closer at hand. I’m sorry if I was distant with you at school- by then I had learned what you had been through growing up and didn't quite know how to approach you _other_ than as your teacher."

He paused again, his gaze drifting out the window yet obviously not seeing anything outside. "I was a bit distracted by my own demons as well- trying to decide whether to tell Dumbledore about Padfoot." He cocked his head and looked back at Harry. "Some loyalties are impossible to abandon. Always remember I am loyal to you- and not just because of your parents, Harry. You are more than any of us could have hoped you'd become, and I believe in you." He paused again, and when he finally spoke there was a glint in his eye. "There are two Marauders left, Harry- one who owes you his life, and one who would gladly give his life for you. When you have need of them, I hope both show you how the pack takes care of its own. Peter may betray everyone else, but he is now in your debt. It may be his salvation."

*****

After a few hours of long overdue conversation, the room was darkening and Remus' strength had faded. Harry sat quietly for awhile just watching the steady rise and fall of Remus' breathing as he dozed off, but the heavily curtained windows seemed to close in around him and he silently crept from the drawing room. Harry needed some time alone to think, and feeling claustrophobic, suddenly remembered the conservatory. It was enclosed, but at least it would let in light and hopefully feel less stifling than the house further darkened by the now heavy rain.

He made his way through the labyrinth of hallways he had discovered that morning, and was surprised that the rain seemed to be growing steadily louder.  _'Must be because it's hitting glass instead of the roof,'_  he thought idly. He was even more surprised when he realized that the conservatory door was already open and Ginny was perched on the low wall of the fountain. He leaned silently against the doorframe, content to just watch her.

She had apparently retreated here for a quiet place to study, but her books lay abandoned on the floor next to her sandals. One of the ceiling windows was open, and a shower of soft rain was falling, forming a pool in the empty basin. Ginny was swinging her bare feet in the collected water while extending her hands into the falling rain, alternating between flicking her hand to splash the water about and collecting a small pool in her cupped palms.

"Hey," Harry said softly, entering the room and glancing up at the intricate ironwork framing the ceiling window panels.

Ginny jumped, then laughed as she realized that she had splashed water all over herself.

"Sorry," Harry grinned. "I didn't mean to startle you. I keep finding myself hanging about in doorways in this house for some reason. Thought I'd actually come in for a change." He walked over and sat beside her on the wall.

" _This is_ _something_ , isn't it? I bet it was amazing when it was full of plants and trees," Ginny said, watching the water play through her fingers.

"Actually it was probably full of dangerous man-eaters and poisonous things," Harry said, extending his own hand under the falling water.

Ginny grinned. "Probably," she replied. "Sirius showed it to us not long after we came last summer. He used to bring Buckbeak down but Remus says he can't get him to budge out of that bedroom since…" She faltered for a moment as Harry met her eyes, then reached over and squeezed his hand.

"I like to come in here-somehow it feels less…stuffy," she added, instead of finishing her original thought. "They don't want us out in the back garden, so this is the next best thing."

Harry sat quietly, thinking about how Sirius had hated being cooped up. He hated it himself, and he hated that fact that thanks to him, his friends also had to spend two summers in a row trapped in this place instead out flying in the open fields near The Burrow.

Ginny seemed to read his thoughts. "It's not that I mind being here- really. I mean I do miss _The Burrow_ ," she added, "but I don't want you to start that guilt trip all over again, Harry. It's not just you…Voldemort's not too happy with _any_ of us after all," she added quietly, her expression darkening.

Harry looked at her closely, noticing for the first time that she had shadows under her eyes and seemed very pale.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"I haven't been sleeping very well," she answered, her eyes focused on the falling water. "I suppose it's this place, or the heat or something," she added hurriedly. "But I'm okay. It's not as if _anyone_ got any sleep last night anyway." She rubbed her eyes tiredly, but turned to Harry with a smile. "How is Remus feeling?"

"He's asleep again now," Harry replied. "We had a long talk though. About my parents and Sirius," he replied to the unspoken question in her eyes.

"That's good," she said simply, seeming to realize he didn't want to discuss it any further for now. They sat in companionable silence, the only noise the gentle splashing of the water as Ginny moved her feet back and forth in the pool she had created.

Harry again appreciated her tact in knowing when to press him and when not to. As much as he loved Hermione, she was like a dog worrying a bone when she focused on something and was relentless when she felt Harry needed to ‘open up.’ Ginny, like Ron, seemed to let him open up at his own pace.

"Did you get any work done?" Harry finally asked, breaking the silence as he gestured to her books lying at his feet.

"Not really," she replied with a sigh. "Mum woke up and shooed me out of the kitchen, but I just can't concentrate on it today, even out here where it's quiet."

"I'm not surprised," Harry grinned at her. "Don't let Hermione catch you leaving your books around though. She'll be after you for not taking your O.W.L. prep seriously enough. Next thing you know she'll be making you study-schedule charts."

"Oh, I think Hermione has enough to keep her distracted for the time being," Ginny replied with a wicked smile. "Seems my big brother has finally figured out she's a girl after all."

Harry laughed in reply. "Yeah, I know."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "You know?" she asked.

"I saw them," he replied simply.

"Did you?" she laughed. "Where?"

"Here."

"Really? How did they react?"

"They didn't see _me_."

She laughed again. "Gred and Forge would be so proud. So…what happened?" she asked with an impish grin.

"Ah, that would be telling," Harry said with a grin, shaking his head.

"Damn. Perfectly good bribery material and I missed it. Well, I can still tease…"

"No…don't," Harry interrupted her. "Not yet. Don't say anything to your brothers either, okay?"

She met his eyes and smiled. "Okay." She giggled to herself for a few minutes, before growing quiet again. "You don't mind, do you?" she asked suddenly, twirling the end of her hair thoughtfully as she continued to watch the falling water.

"No," he replied quickly, and meant it. "I just hope it cuts down on the quarrelling," he added.

"I doubt that," Ginny replied laughing. "Oh, speaking of O.W.L.S., when do you think your results will come?"

"Soon, I shouldn't wonder. I'd almost forgotten, really. I expect mine will be mostly _Dreadfuls_ , with a few _T's_ thrown in."

_"T's?"_ Ginny asked.

"Fred and George claim there are  _'T' for Troll_  marks- I'm not sure whether to believe them or not," Harry grinned.

Ginny laughed. "Oh, I rarely believe anything they tell me regarding school. But you must have aced Defense. I mean, how many 5th years can send a full-fledged Patronus galloping across the examination room?" she added.

"True, there is that," Harry conceded. "But I doubt I did well enough on Potions to make Snape's NEWT level class, so there goes my brilliant future career as an Auror." Harry suddenly felt his stomach tighten and his spirits sink. For a few days he had almost forgotten that his future only held the possibility of murder or being murdered. He closed his eyes and tried to numb himself against the sudden pain and dread. His grades were the least of his worries.

Ginny sensed the change in him, and placed her hand on his arm. Harry shivered, not entirely sure whether his reaction was from the cold water trickling down his skin or her touch. "Harry," she began softly, "I'm sure Dumbledore can arrange something…"

"It's not that," Harry interrupted.

"Then what is it?"

"I…I can't talk about it," Harry replied. He tried to rise, but Ginny tightened her hold on his arm.

"What happened after that night in the Ministry? This is _more_ than Sirius' death- I can feel it," she added softly. She reached up with her other hand and gently turned his face to force him to look in her eyes. "Did you find out something…about the Prophecy?" she whispered.

Harry met her gaze, and wanted nothing more than to unburden himself to her, to wrap her in his arms and hold on tight. Instead, heart pounding with mingled fear and longing, he lied through his teeth.

"No."

She held his eyes for a minute, nodded slowly, then released his chin and turned her gaze back to the water. Her other hand slid gently down his arm and grasped his hand, and they sat together for a long while just holding hands. Harry closed his own eyes and sighed, accepting her silent comfort.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This was all written way before I saw the PoA movie, but you can imagine my squee of delight when Movie!Remus was talking about how fond he was of Lily.  I also have an ever-increasing respect for J.K.'s writing 5 books all from a first person perspective-it's very difficult putting Harry in a position to witness certain things without making him look like a stalker. ;)
> 
>  


	10. Things Unspoken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Normal life (as normal as it gets in Grimmauld Place) resumes...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The usual fanfic copyright disclaimers- everyone and everything in here belongs to J.K. Rowling, no money is being made and no infringement is implied. The story itself is mine. I would like to thank everyone taking the time to read a 11 year old fic that bears little to no resemblance to canon. I got a few things close to right at the time which amuses me, but then the whole fic was written to amuse. Cheers!

 

Harry stuck his head inside the drawing room door to find Remus still asleep, then went down to the kitchen. Ron and Hermione were helping Mrs. Weasley set the table. Whatever Mrs. Weasley was preparing for dinner smelled wonderful and Harry suddenly found himself famished.

"Harry, dear," Mrs. Weasley began, "Have you seen Ginny about?"

Harry felt his cheeks begin to glow, which, he told himself, was silly. All they'd been doing was talking. Well, talking and holding hands, he remembered suddenly, his stomach starting to flip. He realized he hadn't answered, and quickly managed a reply. "She's just gone upstairs- I think she was putting away her books."

"Nice to know someone has been studying this summer," Hermione said, with a pointed glance at Ron.

"Hey! We don't even know what classes we have next term," Ron replied with an injured air. "How do you expect me to study?"

"There's always supplemental reading…"

"Oh yeah-  _Hogwarts, a History_  no doubt!"

"It's a very informative book!"

Harry sighed. "I thought you two'd lay off each other a bit now," he said quietly, and both Ron and Hermione turned to him with startled looks.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, a note of panic in his voice and his ears beginning to redden.

"Nothing," Harry replied innocently, hiding his grin. "After this morning, I just thought you were done with fighting."

Hermione, her cheeks pink, shot him a suspicious look, but refrained from commenting.

They were all distracted by footsteps on the stairs that most definitely didn't belong to Ginny.

"Evening, Weasleys!" Mr. Weasley went over to his wife and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Ah! Harry, Hermione- you too of course. Had a good day, all?"

"Dad!" Ron exclaimed. "Where were you all night? What happened? "

"Ooh! Is that mince pie I smell?" Mr. Weasley said, deftly ignoring Ron's question and moving to peek into the oven. "I do love mince any time of year…."

"But Dad…"

"Never you mind, Ron," his mother interrupted while shooing Mr. Weasley away from the oven. "Arthur, close that door at once or you'll ruin it."

Ron rolled his eyes in disgust. "One more year, Harry--once more bloody year 'till we're legal…"

"Ronald! Language!"

"Hello, all!" Tonks suddenly appeared at the door. "Not too late for dinner, am I?" she said, swiping a roll from the basket that Hermione was about to place on the table. "I'm starving." She looked back to her old self- her hair was a violent shade of purple and she wore a silly grin as she perched on the edge of the table.

"Did you notice if Remus was awake as you passed?" Mrs. Weasley asked her, levitating several pots and dishes to the table.

"Yeah, he's awake," Tonks replied. "He looks _so_ much better- thanks to _you_ ," she added, grabbing Harry in a headlock and mussing his hair.

"I had help! Go bother Ron," Harry said, trying to extract himself from her surprisingly strong grip, his cheeks flushing as he noticed that Ginny had entered and was grinning at Tonk's teasing.

"Nah, can't reach him to muss his hair! Too tall-I'll have to make do with you. Although with your hair, there's not much point, is there?"

Ron smirked at Harry's embarrassment. "Sorry, mate."

"Since you seem to have recovered your energy," Mrs. Weasley began with a smile, "perhaps you'd like to take Remus up his dinner- I don't want him climbing stairs yet."

"No problem," Tonks replied. "Actually, Molly, if you load it up for two I'll stay and eat with him-er- keep him company and all that," she added.

Harry suppressed a grin. Tonks' cheeks actually looked as though she was blushing. She met his eyes, and quickly changed her nose to a pig snout to distract him.

"I'm sure Remus'll  _love_  to have dinner sitting across from  _that_  face," Ginny said with a sly wink to Harry.

Tonks quickly changed back to her normal expression. She raised one eyebrow at Ginny's cheek, but then grinned and was off, levitating the tray Mrs. Weasley had just prepared up the stairs in front of her.

"Do _try_ not to spill it," Mrs. Weasley called, looking slightly skeptical that Tonks would manage to get it all the way up to the drawing room unharmed.

"No worries, Molly! Ta for now," Tonks yelled down the stairs.

"Well, she's right chipper," Ron said with a grin. "Thought she'd still be all in black."

"Well, Remus will be fine, so I'm sure that's a huge relief to her," Mrs. Weasley said, bustling still with the dinner preparations. "For all her mastery at disguise, she does wear her heart on her sleeve."

"P'raps she's got a case of  _puppy-love_ ," Ginny whispered to Harry, who almost choked.

"What, Dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Oh, nothing, Mum. Dad-aren't you going to tell us anything that happened last night?" she added, casually steering the conversation away.

"No, 'fraid not," Mr. Weasley replied cheerfully, planting a kiss on Ginny's head as he moved to sit down at the head of the table. "Anyone else in for dinner tonight, Molly?"

"I half expected Bill and the twins since they'll be here for the meeting anyway, but I don't want dinner ruined. I'll just put some aside for them in case they're hungry later. Everyone sit down, we're all ready."

"Are we to be allowed to sit in on the meeting tonight?" Harry asked, looking quickly at Hermione and Ron, who both turned to see Mr. Weasley's reaction.

"Ron, pass the peas, and Ginny please pass Hermione the potatoes," Mrs. Weasley interrupted, as if hoping the sudden movement of food across the table would cause a distraction.

Mr. Weasley paused in his carving of the meat. "Ah. No, Harry," he finally said, as if he wished it had been anyone but himself who had to deliver the news.

"But Dumbledore said…"

" _Professor_  Dumbledore told you that he would not keep you in the dark regarding Order business that involved  _you_  in future, yes," Mr. Weasley began, cutting off Harry's protest, "but much of the Order business is kept between as few people as possible, in order to prevent inadvertent leaks. It's done for all of our sakes- no one has too much information at any one time that can be dangerous to the group as a whole. Surely you understand?" Mr. Weasley added kindly.

"I understand that we're still to be treated as children!" Ron blurted out, waving off the hand Hermione placed on his arm.

"You're still at school!" Mrs. Weasley said, her voice raising slightly. "If I had my way…"

"Yes, well, let's not start a row at dinner, Ron," his father cut in gently. "The meeting tonight really only concerns what happened last night-not all of the Order will be present anyway. You're not official members, _and_ _for all that you have already done,_ " he said, "there _are_ members of the Order who would not react well to the inclusion of students in general meetings. But I do promise you, and I know Remus feels the same, that you will be informed of as much as possible, all right Harry? You won't be left completely in the dark again."

Mrs. Weasley had been very quietly passing out food all this time, her face wearing a pinched expression that Harry felt would not have looked out of place on his Aunt Petunia's face. He sighed, remembering her boggart of last summer, and forced down his rising resentment, trying to put his Occlumency training to use.

"Fine," he said quietly.

"Fine?" Ron exclaimed. "Ow! Hermione!"

"Sorry, Ron, my foot slipped. Could you pass the salt?"

 

*****

 

After dinner was cleaned up, the four "Unofficial Members of the Order" were sent packing upstairs to their rooms by Mrs. Weasley.

"And I don't want to see any sign of those  _ear things_  around the parlor door, either!" she exclaimed, nudging Ron up the stairs. "Fred and George are in the Order now, and they will know if you're trying to listen in, so don't get any ideas," she added.

The twins, who had just entered the front door making as much noise as humanly possible just because they could, both grinned and waved. "Did someone mention our names?" George asked, as Fred bent to give his mother a peck on the cheek.

"Merlin, we barely step in the door and already we're needed to save the day," Fred said with a grin at his mother's flustered expression.

"Save the day, indeed! Get inside, get inside," Mrs. Weasley cried, as she shooed them through the parlor doors.

Ron and Harry hung over the railing across the first landing while Ginny and Hermione headed up the next set of stairs. They watched as Dung arrived, followed by Bill, Kingsley, and a few other Order members, including one young wizard wearing Auror robes that Harry didn't recognize. He supposed after what had happened in the Ministry, there would be more new members in the Order.

"Ears won't work," Ron muttered. "Any other bright ideas?"

"None," Harry replied. "P'raps Remus will tell us something later on."

"Why aren't you angry they still won't tell us anything?" Ron asked in a quiet voice, after checking that the girls had passed out of earshot.

"Anger didn't exactly do me a lot of good last year," Harry replied thoughtfully. "I suppose I'm just trying to handle things better."

"Yeah, well, I suppose that's an improvement over you jumping down all our throats all the time," Ron said, grinning to soften the harshness of his words.

"Yeah--about that. I'm sorry, Ron, for being such a prat so often with you and Hermione."

Ron looked both embarrassed and pleased. "S'okay."

They stood in companionable silence for a few moments before Ron spoke again. "Have you told _her_ that?"

Harry grinned at him. "Protective, are we?" Before Ron could speak again, he added softly, "I will. I should have sooner, but I will." He looked at Ron then back down into the hall. "I don't know what I would do without you guys, you know," he blurted out.

Ron stood quietly for a moment, then added in a chuffed sort of way, "Someone'e got to keep you in line, Mr. Boy-Who-Lived. Keeps you from getting a fat head."

Harry laughed, and turned for the stairs. The bonds of their friendship so strong, he knew it was all that needed to be said on the matter. He paused after a few steps, and turned back to face Ron, speaking in a light voice that showed no sign of the emotion that had just passed between them.

"Besides, they didn't say they wouldn't tell us anything. Just that we couldn't sit in on the meeting tonight. I'm still holding out that Remus may let us in on what's going on."

 


	11. Secrets Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More than one kind of secret is revealed...

"I suppose you want to know what was said at the meeting last night?" Remus enquired mildly over his tea the next morning. "Or are you just concerned about my well-being?" he added with a smirk.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had joined him in the parlor after breakfast, Ginny having been restrained by her mother on pretext of being needed in the kitchen. She had shot Harry a powerful look that clearly meant she expected a full report later on, before he headed upstairs.

Before Hermione could sputter a protest, Ron spoke up. "Are you _allowed_ to tell us? I thought we were supposed to stay in the nursery and hide," Ron said sarcastically.

"Ron!" Hermione snapped, "Remus doesn't have to tell us anything if you keep up that attitude."

"Sorry," Ron muttered. "It's just…my brothers…and all," he added somewhat incoherently, but Remus smiled and seemed to understand.

"Actually, it was due to a Weasley that we had warning of the Death-Eater recruitment meeting at all," he said. Ron's head snapped up in interest, and Harry exchanged a curious glance with Hermione. It seemed Remus would open up after all.

"One of Charlie's friends at the dragon reservation has a younger brother at Durmstrang," Remus began. "Seems as Charlie is a pureblood he talks a bit freely with him, and mentioned there was quite a bit of agitation at the school this past year. A few of the older students decided not to come up this past term, and there may be more that don't show next month. The word going through the school was that they were headed for England." 

He sighed. "Apparently Voldemort has been anything but quiet this summer, and is now actively starting to reach out to rebuild his former numbers. Charlie sent word that the Death Eaters were issuing invitations not only to Durmstrang students but to the disenfranchised throughout Romania to join his cause here in England. Charlie's friend managed to stop his brother from joining up, but in the conversation gave Charlie enough information for us to know where to look out for trouble here."

Remus took a sip of tea and continued. "We've been monitoring the other major wizarding newspapers as well. Of course, they're probably as reliable as  _The Prophet_ , but even misinformation can be enlightening for what it leaves _out_ ," he added with a wry grin. "Anyway, there have been increasing reports of dark creature sightings throughout Europe. There are Umbridges all over the wizarding world, and some countries are lobbying for even stricter codes for werewoves, among others, which is only going to increase the possibility of their listening to Voldemort's recruiters."

Harry nodded, trying to absorb all this information. "So what happened the other evening--it  _was_  a werewolf meeting?"

"Not exactly, no, but unfortunately there _was_ a werewolf present as part of the European recruits, and he is one of the men now being held at Azkaban. Once  _The Prophet_  gets hold of that information, Umbridge will seem like Joan of Arc for leading the fight against us, and instigating the laws already in place." He took another sip of tea, his face lined with worry and set in a grim expression.

Harry suddenly realized that he had never heard Remus refer to his being a werewolf in quite that way--of being in the position of  _us_  against  _them_ \-- and it worried him.

"Don't worry, Harry," Remus added softly. "I'm not planning on leading the werewolves to revolt or anything," he said, and not for the first time did Harry wonder if Remus was a Legilimens.

Hermione had been sitting quietly, but now spoke up.  "So foreign wizards have already started coming to England to try and join the Death Eaters directly?"

"And receive instruction on how to proceed in their home countries, yes," Remus answered.

Harry noticed Ron surreptitiously place his hand over Hermione's.

"The war has truly begun," Remus said quietly.

He paused, then smiled briefly. "I think that should contain your curiosity for now, eh? I thought you should have some idea of what's been happening, as we believe that Voldemort, has, for the moment, seemed to have turned his attention away from attacking you directly, Harry."

"Thanks for telling us, Remus," Harry said quietly. "At least that explains the lack of headaches and dreams. I know he's not done with me, but at least I can relax that I'm probably not missing something."

Remus reached out and placed his hand briefly on Harry's shoulder, before turning his attention to the others.

"As I've now said all I'm going to, because Molly will have my head if I say any more, perhaps we can change the subject to more pressing matters for you three. Such as when you think you'll receive your O.W.L. results?" he asked with a grin.

Ron rolled his eyes at Harry as Hermione and Remus began a discussion about her hopes for her exam results and what she ought to be studying in the meantime.

Harry sat quietly listening, but his mind was on more than exam scores. 

 

*****

 

Their discussion about the O.W.L.S. was prophetic, as the next morning while they were eating breakfast they were surprised by Professor McGonagall, wearing a muggle summer dress and straw hat, entering the kitchen bearing thick envelopes for each of them.

"Your O.W.L. examination results arrived at Hogwarts, and I thought it safer to bring them myself than to send them by post. I also have your booklists. Ah, thank you Molly, but no thank you- I can't stay," she added, acknowledging the cup of tea Mrs. Weasley started to place before her on the table. "Good Morning to you all- I will see you in September if not before."

With that she headed back up the stairs. In a few moments, they could hear her raised voice, as if arguing with someone, before the stairwell went silent again and Remus slowly made his way into the kitchen. He waved off Mrs. Weasley's admonition that he wasn't supposed to climb stairs.

"Fine- I'll Apparate back upstairs later," he replied with a grin. "Right now I want to hear how my former students did on their exams," he added, sitting down next to Harry. Harry glanced nervously over at him and then met Ron's eyes with a shrug as he took his envelope from Mrs. Weasley. Hermione was practically quivering with excitement as she waited for Mrs. Weasley to hand her an envelope.

Ron ripped his envelope open while Hermione, though just as eager, managed to open her seal neatly. Matching Prefect pins slid out of both and hit the table simultaneously with a clinking sound and they grinned at each other.

Everyone paused and waited to hear whether a third clinking badge would fall from Ginny's letter. The room stayed almost eerily silent.

"Oh, Ginny…" Mrs. Weasley began in a choked voice, before Ron, with one of his rare moments of tact, cut her off.

"Good for you, Gin! You'll make the Twins proud. Lots more time for Quidditch--and O.W.L.S. as well," he added, as his mother quirked an eyebrow at him, the disappointment clear on her face.

Hermione's jaw dropped, but Harry grinned. "He's right, you know," he added. "At least I'll still have company while these two are off at  _Prefect Meetings_." Harry intentionally stressed his last words, and raised an eyebrow that only Ginny saw. She giggled.

"True," she said. "Plus, we all can't be practically perfect after all."

Hermione actually snorted at that. "Ron? Practically perfect?" she teased.

"Hey!" Ron glared at her briefly, before laughing himself. They then turned to their O.W.L. results.

Harry noticed that Ginny rather surreptitiously pocketed a smaller note that fell out of her letter, but was immediately distracted by a similar note that now fell out of his own packet. He placed the other papers aside and opened the smaller note, immediately recognizing Dumbledore's handwriting.

  

_Harry,_

_In the confusion of our last meeting I did not have the opportunity to inform you that I will be personally instructing you in your Occlumency lessons when you return to Hogwarts this autumn. As there is much to do at the beginning of the semester, we will not begin until the third week in September. Professor McGonagall will inform you of the lesson times and appropriate password at that time._

_Since my appearance at the Ministry to come to your aid, Voldemort is already aware of my personal relationship with you. His own failure to physically possess you and my involvement in your training may quite possibly act as a deterrent for him to try to again exert control over your mind. It would not be in his best interests to have his plans intercepted by me during our sessions._

_I also have the very great pleasure to inform you that there will be no formal hearing as to your presence or actions at the Ministry last spring, and that your lifetime ban from Quidditch (along with the other rulings created under the departed High Inquistor's administration here at Hogwarts) has been revoked. I hope this puts your mind at ease. I look forward to seeing you rejoin the Gryffindor team._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

 

 

Harry breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't even known he's been holding when he read that there would be no hearing this summer. He was pleased that the Headmaster was sticking to his promise of being honest with him, but he was even more pleased--thrilled, really-- to be allowed to play Quidditch again. He suddenly realized that Hermione was calling his name ever more loudly.

"HARRY! You haven't opened your O.W.L.S.!"

It was one thing to dread something happening, but quite another to see it in cold black and white in front of you. Harry opened the parchment and his eyes went straight to his Potions score: E, for  _Exceeds Expectations_. Normally he would have been thrilled at shoving such a score under Snape's humongous nose, but his stomach now sank. He would not be attending Auror Training after Hogwarts. Snape was getting the last laugh after all. His disappointment must have shone on his face as he handed the page silently to Remus, who smiled encouragingly back after he scanned the grades.

"But these are very good scores, Harry.  _Outstanding_  on Defense--as your former teacher in that area I'm _very_ proud. You should be proud too, especially considering the year you've had," he added.

"Only an "E" in Potions, though. Guess that rules out a career as an Auror," Harry replied glumly.

"S'ok, Harry. At least we don't ever have to sit a class with that great git again," Ron said in a bracing tone.

"We?" Harry asked.

"Well you don't think I got any higher score than you in Potions, did you?" Ron snorted. "But it would have been cool to be an Auror," he added in a softer voice, handing his own results to Remus as his mother, after hugging him soundly for his good scores, was now busy going over the booklists.

Remus looked thoughtful, but said nothing as he looked over the score sheet. Their attention was suddenly drawn to Hermione, who was quietly laughing and glowing with pride.

"I didn't dare hope…I mean, I thought I did okay, but I was so sure that I flubbed the Astronomy exam, what with all the excitement," she said, beaming, as she handed her scores to Remus. He smiled, then turned the page to face the table. Every score was an Outstanding. Molly shrieked and gave Hermione a hug, and Harry and Ginny congratulated her. Ron just beamed proudly.

"Well, I think these results deserve a celebratory dinner tonight," Mrs. Weasley announced. “Now you just leave all your booklists with me…"

"What?" Ginny exclaimed, "No Diagon Alley  _again_?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione turned first to Mrs. Weasley, then to Remus in exasperation.

"No, I'm afraid not," Mrs. Weasley began, quickly drowned out by the protests of her two youngest. Harry bit his tongue, knowing this was once again his fault. This time Hermione read his mind.

"We  _all_  went to the Ministry, Harry," she said softly. "We're all targets on our own now for any Death Eater in the Alley."

Harry just sighed in frustration. He hadn't realized just how much he had been counting on getting out of the house even for a few hours shopping.

"We don't mean to be harsh," Remus added kindly, "but it's for your own protection. Even with a guard of aurors you'd be much too accessible, and  _with_  a guard you'd also be much too obvious. It can't be helped." He rose from the table, levitating his empty cup to the sink. "If you need any special supplies, just let Molly or I know--we''ll be picking up your new things. Thank you for breakfast, Molly. I'll be in the library if anyone needs me--Albus has asked me to do a bit of research."

With that, he went slowly upstairs, and Ron, throwing down his napkin in annoyance, followed soon after. Ginny sat, arms crossed against her chest, sulking in her chair, while Mrs. Weasley studiously ignored her as she went about cleaning up the breakfast things.

"Harry," Hermione said quietly, "Could I borrow Hedwig?"

Harry looked at her, confused by her change of subject.

"It's just that I want to let my parents know about my grades. Pig made a bit of a scene the last time I sent him home, and I'd rather my results stay in one piece," she added with a wry grin.

"Oh, right. Sure," he answered. "She's probably up in my room."

She excused herself politely to Mrs. Weasley, and Harry and Ginny were left at the table. Harry found himself fidgeting with his napkin, thinking furiously. He had another reason for wanting to go to Diagon Alley, one that he wasn't quite prepared to discuss with either Remus or especially Mrs. Weasley.

He had remembered that Ginny's birthday was less than a week away, and he'd been counting on being able to shop for a present for her. She'd been such a good friend to him these past few weeks--actually the past year even. He really wanted to buy her a present this year--something special beyond a bag of Bertie Botts or chocolate frogs. The fact that she also made his stomach flip and his heart skip a few beats when she smiled at him had nothing to do with it. Asking Mrs. Weasley to pick him up what he had in mind was out of the question. His mind raced until he suddenly hit on the answer.

"Mrs. Weasley?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Will Tonks be in for supper tonight?"

"Yes, she said she’d be by after work. Which reminds me, I must make sure Bill and the others can come as well to celebrate. Ginny, will you go get Errol for me? I think he's out in the garden-and be quick now!"

Ginny sighed, made a face behind her mother's back, and went out the back garden door.

Harry smiled, excused himself from the room, and went upstairs to look for the others.

  

*****

 

That evening he cornered Tonks almost as soon as she had arrived and, after dragging her into the empty parlor, had explained his problem.

"Mission accepted," she said with a grin and a jaunty salute. "I am always at the service of  _Romance_."

"It's not like that!" Harry exclaimed, desperately trying not to blush. "She's _just_ a friend…"

"Right. Of course." Tonks bit her lip, trying not to laugh.

"It's not like it's something _personal_ \--like Ron with that perfume for Hermione last Christmas!"

Tonks, while containing her laugh, could not stop a broad grin from spreading across her face.

Harry felt his temper start to rise. "Never mind!" he began, before Tonks cut him off.

"I'm only teasing, Harry. I think it's a very nice thing to do, and I'm sure she'll appreciate it. I'll bring it 'round as soon as I find one."

Harry took a deep breath, trying to shake off his anger and embarrassment. The more he reacted to her teasing, the more she would believe she was right. Which she was, sort of.  _'No, stop that!'_  he thought to himself.

Tonks, still smiling, ruffled his hair and started down the hall. "I'm just off to see Remus about a…um…thing," she called over her shoulder. "I assume he's in the library?"

"In the service of  _Romance_ , I can assure you he is," Harry replied with his best straight face.

Tonks made a face, blushed, then laughed. "Touché," she answered, then continued her way down the hall waving behind her.

  

******

  

They had a merry meal that night, with Bill, Fred and George all there for the celebration in addition to Remus and Tonks. Mrs. Weasley kept it to a regular dinner, but everyone was in such good spirits that it felt more like a party. A toast was raised to the returning Prefects and to everyone's high O.W.L. scores.

Fred and George stood and raised a special toast to Ginny. "To Ginevra Weasley," Fred began very solemnly.

"Ginevra?" Harry said, surprised. "I didn't know 'Ginny' was short for _Ginevra_."

"Very few do," said Ginny, swatting her brother with her napkin.

"Excuse me? Let a man finish," Fred said with a grin. "As I was saying, _To Ginevra Weasley…_ "

"Yes, we got that part," Ginny hissed at him.

_"For her Spectacular Achievement in Following the Glorious Example of her Highly Successful Favorite Brothers!"_ George finished, pinning a badge they had made on her shirt. The badge was the approximate shape and color of a Gryffindor prefect badge, but instead of  _Prefect_ , it flashed _Perfect._ Everyone laughed, even Mrs. Weasley.

"I was about to protest the favorite brothers part, but I can hardly find fault with you now, can I?" Ginny laughed, getting up and hugging both twins in turn.

"Nonsense," Bill said with a smile, " _I've_ always been  _Gin-Gin's_  favorite and I'll hex anyone who claims otherwise."

Ginny smacked his arm. "If you call me that again I'll disown you," she said. The table went quiet, as everyone suddenly remembered Percy.

"Ginevra's an Italian name, isn't it?" Hermione said quickly, breaking the tension.

"It's an old family name," replied Mrs. Weasley, her voice a bit shaky. "As Ginny's the first female Weasley in generations, we thought it was only fitting. Even if _she_ doesn't like it," she added, as Ginny scrunched up her nose.

The conversation began to flow again, and Ginny sat back down next to Harry.

"I think it's a very nice name," Harry said quietly.

She glanced up at him in surprise.  "Really?"

"Really," he answered. Ginny beamed at him, and Harry's stomach turned a double flip. He quickly turned his attention back to his cake. 

 

*****

 

The next day after breakfast, Mrs.Weasley reminded them that they still hadn't finished their painting; it having been abandoned due to all the excitement in the house.

"I've already asked Remus to charm the scaffolding back into place," Mrs. Weasley said, "but this time I would appreciate it if the paint stayed _only_ on the walls."

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione dutifully trooped upstairs and found Remus standing in the hallway, rolling up his sleeves. Harry tried not to stare at the myriad of scars that ran up his forearms.

"Since I'm still house-bound, I thought I'd give you a hand," Remus said, throwing up his hands in defense against Ginny's thwarted retort. "I won't push it, but I can at least help a bit. I was actually thinking that I could conjure up a custom color for you, if you like. Or maybe a quick-drying spell?" he added with a smile.

Ginny backed down, looking so much like her mother spoiling for a fight that Ron and Harry grinned. Her expression changed to a grin, and her face lit up with a new idea. "You know what would be _really_ amazing? If we could enchant the ceiling like Hogwarts- bring the outside _in_ since we're shut in here all the time."

Remus scratched his head. "Ah…I think that's a bit beyond me," he said easily.

Harry and Ron grinned again, glancing over at Hermione, who was already obviously mentally calculating where to search the library once they got back to school for the correct spells. "What?" she asked, flushing slightly as she realized they were staring at her.

Remus had squatted down to pry open a paint can. He was wearing loose-fitting Muggle khakis, and as he gingerly bent over his shirt hitched up. Ginny started to giggle, and Harry looked at her questioningly. Sticking out from Remus' waistband was a pair of dark blue boxers covered with a pattern of moons and stars.

Harry grinned back at Ginny, then said, "Um, Remus?"

"Yes?"

"Has _Tonks_ been shopping for you lately?" Harry said, trying not to laugh.

Remus colored. "Why would you ask?"

"Um, she's got very… interesting taste," Harry managed.

Remus must have felt the draft, and hastily tucked in his shirt, flushing even darker.

Ginny giggled some more, then her eyes narrowed as she turned to Harry. "Wait a minute! How did you know it was Tonks?" she asked.

It was Remus' turn to grin. "I suspect that Tonks did a very _thorough_ job shopping with our Harry here," he said slyly, and the others burst out laughing. "Apparently I'm not the only one she finds too sedate."

"Let's see!" Ginny cried, making a move toward Harry, her eyes dancing merrily, her fingers dangerously close to his waistband.

Harry backed away from her, nearly tripping over a paint can. "Oh no, you don't," he began, before turning and running up the stairs with Ginny in hot pursuit.

"Aww, c'mon, Harry! I have six brothers after all!" she giggled, chasing him up the stairs.

Harry could hear Ron and Hermione running up the stairs after Ginny. Ron was yelling "A QUEST!" in the manner of old Sir Cadogan, the crazy knight in a portrait at Hogwarts, while Hermione was pleading with Ginny to "Let Harry alone!" Remus' laughter echoed after them, and Harry couldn't help but laugh himself as he fled.

  

*****

 

Harry stood against the wall, breathing hard. He was sadly out of shape, he realized, as he glanced around the corner again.  _'Lost her,'_  he thought. Ron and Hermione must have gone in the opposite direction, hoping to head him off- he hadn't heard them for awhile.  _'Or for another reason,'_  he thought slyly. Ginny, however, had dogged his footsteps until that last room with the multiple doors. Harry leaned against the wall, and suddenly realized that it felt strange- somehow not quite solid- and turned to study it. Pressing gently, he felt it move a bit, and he realized that it must be some sort of hidden doorway. He studied the decorative scrollwork at the top of the paneling, and grinned when he spotted the small snake carved cunningly amongst the details.

' _Gotta love that Black design sense,'_  he thought, fingering the tiny snake. He pushed against it and the door swung inwards with a whoosh of air to reveal a dark stairwell. Excited at having discovered something new, he started down the stairs, and was startled when a small blue torch flared to life. As he continued down the spiral new torches ignited to light his path as the previous ones flickered out as he passed.

Harry finally reached the landing and paused, listening at the door, trying to gauge where in the house it let out. He then heard a banging noise back at the top of the stairs and retraced his steps. Obviously Ginny had guessed he had gone down that hall, and was now pounding against sections of the wall looking for a hidden exit.  _'Damn, she's smart,'_ Harry thought admiringly. He hadn't even considered a hidden passage, but Ginny apparently had listened to too many tales of Fred and George's exploits not to consider the possibility in an old wizarding house such as this one.

He retraced his steps and waited just around the first turn of the spiral in between the torches so the passage remained pitch black and listened.

"He couldn't have gone any other way," he heard Ginny say to herself just outside the hidden door. "There's got to be something here. Sirius said this house had its secrets..."

Harry grinned, realizing where Sirius had learned so much about hidden passageways long before he had gone to Hogwarts.

He could hear more experimental taps, before Ginny let out a small "HA!" She must have found the snake and pressed it, for the door slid open and the light of the hall lit up the first few steps. "Why does it always have to be snakes?" Ginny sighed.

Harry remained motionless, waiting in the dark as she hesitated.

"Gryffindor courage," Ginny muttered, then must have stepped on the staircase as the first torch flared blue light and the door closed behind her. She started slowly down the stairs, and Harry lay in wait, trying to gauge exactly when she would reach his position. She had just come around the bend, the torch behind her fluttered out and Harry, taking advantage of the dark, grabbed her. Ginny screamed, and Harry swung her around, pinning her to the wall. The blue torch above his head flared to life, and he was inches from Ginny's face, grinning like a devil.

Ginny's face went from terror to anger. "YOU SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME!" she yelled, pummeling Harry's chest with her fists. Harry took the beating, keeping her trapped against the wall between his arms.

"Only what you deserve, trying to invade my privacy," he laughed, enjoying her frustration. His laugh died when she turned her eyes up to his, and he saw the remnant of real fear in them.

"Gin, I was only kidding around," he began, suddenly feeling terrible that he had scared her so.

"In this house you never know what could be lurking," she answered, still breathing hard. "I don't especially like dark hidden passageways anyway."

"But that didn't stop you…"

"The temptation was too great to resist," she interrupted, finally cracking a grin. "The lure of the unknown…to go where no girl has gone before and actually see what The Great Harry Potter's hiding…." Her sarcasm ended abruptly as she realized what she was saying. She turned crimson and looked down, then, even more embarrassed, quickly looked back up.

Harry grinned at her discomfort, enjoying the situation far too much to be embarrassed. He was suddenly very aware of her proximity, her perfume, and her warm breath on his neck. When she raised her eyes to his, they were sparkling with mischief again, and he felt himself growing almost dizzy. He was so befuddled that he couldn't move when he felt her hands slowly and hesitantly encircle his waist.

' _Was she…did she?'_  His incoherent mind whirled, and he leaned closer, his eyes never leaving hers.

Suddenly he felt Ginny's fingers wrench his T-shirt up and her other hand roll the too big waist of his old jeans down to reveal a few inches of boxers…plain, white, boring boxers. Shock snapped him out of his spell, and he couldn't help but laugh as her face went from triumph to disappointment.

"Not what you expected?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

She stood speechless, her hand holding his shirt brushing against the bare skin of his stomach. He felt it tremble, and a thrill ran up his spine.

"There's a price to be paid for learning The Great Harry Potter's secrets, you know," he found himself whispering.

She met his eyes again, a half-smile playing about her lips. Harry was suddenly mesmerized by them, and felt himself move closer still.  He was inches from kissing her, and Ginny's eyes had fluttered closed in anticipation, when he suddenly froze. With her eyes closed and her face illuminated only be the eerie blue light, she looked so like the young girl he had pleaded with not to die in the Chamber of Secrets that he was overwhelmed. If he kissed her, if he allowed himself feelings for her, he might once again be faced with finding her somewhere, injured or dead. He couldn't risk it. He pulled back. Ginny's eyes flew open in surprised hurt.

"Er…we'd better go find the others," Harry finally managed, dropping his arms and moving back. "I'm not sure where this passage leads, I only got as far as the landing when I heard you and came back." He hoped his voice sounded normal and he started down the stairs quickly, not able to face the question in her eyes.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I transfer this fic here, I keep finding humorous "Author's Notes" attached that mean nothing to anyone unless they were a reviewer when it was first posted, so I have left them out. At the time this was written, I had a lovely request from one of the readers at _The Sugar Quill,_ Jadzialove, to "borrow" the idea of Tonks buying Harry ridiculous boxers. She made good use of it in her own fic called "The Art of Healing"--her story was at Checkmated.com (now defunct) and PhoenixSong, which I just looked for and is still online. She borrowed Harry's boxers and had fun with them. Tonks would approve. ;) I'm not sure if she is still in fandom, but I got a kick out of it at the time.


	12. Toil and Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things have taken a turn in Harry's relationship with Ginny and they all have to deal with the fading summer blues...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The author's note I left when I originally posted:  
> "A/N: I am hoping to beat the July 16th deadline, but can't guarantee it. Who knew writing about the Summer after 5th year would take so long? ;o)" The deadline being the release of _Half Blood Prince!_
> 
> The distribution of this story is for personal use only. Any other form of distribution is prohibited without the consent of the author.The usual fanfic copyright disclaimers- everyone and everything in here belongs to J.K. Rowling, no money is being made and no infringement is implied. The story itself is mine. Thanks again to everyone who keeps reading and leaving kudos-I'm so surprised and delighted by the number of hits!

 

They discovered that the staircase led down to the kitchen, much to Mrs. Weasley's surprise--she was so startled by their sudden appearance that the bowl she was holding crashed to the floor.

"I suppose it's handy to know about, but you did give me a fright," she said, after repairing the broken bowl with a quick flick of her wand. "What happened to the painting?" she inquired.

Harry was still so shaken by his experience in the passageway that he couldn't respond. He stood looking at the repaired bowl as if he had never seen one before, while Ginny worried a loose thread in her shirt. Mrs. Weasley looked surprised at the pair's silence and apparent discomfort.

"We got a little sidetracked We’re heading right back up now," Ginny finally managed.

Harry looked to her gratefully, but she refused to meet his eyes and quickly went back upstairs. After a mumbled apology for scaring her, he too left Mrs. Weasley standing bemused in the kitchen.

By the time he reached the front hall, Ginny was discussing various possible colors with Remus, and turned to Harry as if nothing had happened. "I suppose you should really make the final decision, as it's your house," she said.

Harry, thrown by her change of mood, again found himself standing frozen as if he had forgotten how to speak. Remus raised an eyebrow quizzically, looking from Harry to Ginny and back, but said nothing.

"Er…whatever you think best," Harry finally managed, and this time Remus came to his rescue.

"Perhaps we'll just keep to the white then, shall we?" he said. "We can always charm it a different color later. I've already placed the quick drying charms on the paint, so you should be all set." He paused, eyeing the silent pair before him.

"Thanks, Remus," Ginny said brightly, again, as if nothing was unusual.

"I'll just leave you to it, then. I'll be in the library if you need anything." With one final curious look, Remus went off down the hall.

Harry and Ginny both reached for the same brush, touched hands, and startled away from each other.

"You take it," Harry offered, just as Ginny said the same.

"Please," he insisted, and she took the brush from him.

"I'll just start on the woodwork, then," she said quietly, the forced brightness gone from her voice now that Remus had left the room. She took the brush and a can of paint and walked across to the other side of the hall.

"Fine," Harry said, mentally berating himself for upsetting her. "I'll start on the walls."

The swish of roller, brush and paint were the only sounds in the hallway until Ron and Hermione reappeared later looking somewhat flushed and giddy.

  

******

 

The next few days were spent in much the same way; Ginny studiously avoiding Harry as much as possible, while acting her usual cheerful self to everyone else. Harry returned to the sullen silence he had long since mastered during the previous year, and took to hanging out in Buckbeak's room as much as possible. Ron and Hermione sent concerned glances to each other, but said nothing outright.  The painting, which had started out as a fun task, descended into a chore to be finished as soon as possible.

When the hall was finished, the dramatic change lifted the mood of everyone entering the house. Even with the silver snake-entwined fixtures, polished to a sheen by Molly and Ginny, the hall exuded a bright cheery welcome. For the first time Harry dared hope that someday he wouldn't actually mind living here.

Harry and Ron dragged the huge troll-foot umbrella stand out to the back garden, and when the twins stopped by that evening, they incinerated it with great flourish, while Tonks cheered.

"I hate that bloody thing!" she laughed. "It always had it out for me. Now maybe I can manage not to trip every time I come in," she added.

"It's a hope," George sighed, and Tonks swatted him playfully, before they were all shooed back indoors by Mrs. Weasley.

As Harry followed behind Ron, Tonks tugged at his sleeve. "Half a moment," she whispered, drawing him aside. "I have something for you."

Harry hung back into the darkening garden. "You got one?"

"I did even better than you asked."

She shoved a much smaller package than he had expected at him. "Best open it upstairs out of sight, Harry. Oh, and I hope you don't mind, but I had to recruit Remus to give me a hand. He knows more than I do about these things. We charmed it ourselves, so don't report us to Arthur," she added, grinning. With that, she led him back into the kitchen and finding it empty, followed the others upstairs.

Harry, after lingering a few moments until the coast was clear, deftly found the small snake in the kitchen molding he had located earlier, and made his way upstairs through the secret passageway he and Ginny had discovered. As he followed the winding staircase, his thoughts once again turned to the feisty redhead. His excitement over her present was so dampened by recent events that even his curiosity as to Tonks' cryptic remark wasn't stirred.

Harry was flummoxed by Ginny's behaviour. She was completely her old self when any other person was in the room, but if she and Harry were left alone for any reason, she went cold and silent. He hoped desperately that his birthday present would also act as a peace offering. He missed when she turned her smile on him, and their easy banter. Most of all he missed her presence at his side in the evenings during rowdy games of exploding snap, or watching and coaching him on while he and Ron played chess. He couldn't ask Tonks or Hermione for help, as that would entail explaining just what had happened between Ginny and himself.

He knew he had disappointed her in this very passage, but he saw no other way to act. If he pursued her, at the least, he was betraying a friend, and at the worst he was risking her life. No, she would just have to understand he could offer her nothing beyond friendship. If that was even what she wanted, he thought miserably. Perhaps he had misread her actions; perhaps she was furious at him for even thinking of kissing her. " _Girls,"_  he said quietly. "I'll never understand them." He reached the top of the stairs, creaked the door open, and, seeing no one in the hallway, made his way to the room he shared with Ron.

  

*********

The next morning started with everyone in an even worse mood than had pervaded the house the previous few days. Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione were just finishing the cleaning up after breakfast for Mrs. Weasley when Professor Snape arrived in a worse temper than usual. He sent Ginny such a freezing glance when she offered him tea that she went upstairs with a furious expression; a few moments later Remus apparated into the kitchen with a quiet  _pop_.

"Ah, Severus, nice to see you. What brings you to headquarters?"

"Certainly not a social call, Lupin."

Remus pulled out a chair and sat down, showing no sign of leaving the three others alone with Snape, much to Snape's very apparent annoyance. He swept across the room to stand over Harry as he sat at the table.

"Apparently  _none_  of the fifth year students, with the exception of Miss Granger," Snape announced, pausing to glare at Hermione, "were able to receive  _Outstanding_  marks on their Potions O.W.L.S.  _Even the Ravenclaw_ s. I have  _never_  had so abysmal a showing from any of my classes," he added with great disgust. "Due to these unfortunate circumstances, the Headmaster has ordered me to accept anyone with a grade of  _Exceeds Expectations_ in my N.E.W.T. level classes."

He strode across to the other side of the kitchen, his robes swirling behind him. Harry glanced over at Remus, who, though managing to maintain a straight face, could not hide the merriment in his eyes. Harry suppressed his own grin, torn between amusement at Snape's discomfiture and his own dread of spending yet another year sitting Potions classes. Ron, however, could not contain his own disappointment, and groaned loudly.

" _If_  you are quite finished, Weasley," Snape snarled, turning his glare to Ron.

Ron didn't back down, but glared right back at him. "What if we don't want to…" he began, before Snape cut him off.

"The Headmaster specifically added that there are to be no exceptions, which, sadly, means that your class will also be attended by Mr. Longbottom. If I didn't know that the tests were monitored in the strictest fashion, I would assume that Granger had been hissing instructions to the lot of you throughout, because none of you seem to be able to perform to such standards during class."

"Now, Severus, _really,_ that's uncalled for…" Remus started to protest, but Snape whirled on him.

"I know you think this lot are beyond reproach,  _Lupin_ ," he said with distaste, "but I have reason to believe otherwise." He turned his attention suddenly back to Harry and Ron. "As such, I will be watching you very carefully, and expect that you  _will_  perform in my class to the standards you showed you are apparently capable of. If not, I will personally see to it that you are dropped from my class, the Headmaster's orders be damned _. Are we clear?_ "

Harry and Ron nodded, dumbfounded that Snape would even consider going against Dumbledore's wishes.

He practically threw their lists of Potions requirements at them. "I also expect by the first class of term three rolls of parchment on the ingredients, properties and correct brewing procedures of…"

Here, he paused and turned with a sneer to Remus, before looking back to the others. " _Wolfsbane_. I would appreciate restraint from assistance from  _you_ ,  _Lupin_."

"There's no reason to take that tone, Severus," Remus said mildly, getting up from the table. "I'm quite sure that the boys and Hermione will exceed  _your_  expectations this year. Now, if you will excuse us, we have business upstairs to attend to. Come, Harry, Ron, Hermione." He motioned for them to follow as he walked slowly upstairs. They needed no encouragement; Ron followed practically on Remus's heels.

Harry glanced back as he started up the stairs, only to see Snape glaring after them, furious at Remus' offhand but polite dismissal. He hurried after the others.

"Do you know what this means?" Ron said quietly to Harry as they entered the hall.

"Auror training is still a possibility?" Harry responded.

"Well, that too. But that's not what I was getting at. Even Malfoy must not have gotten an  _'O'."_  He grinned with delight, and Harry grinned back.

"Let's hope he didn't get an  _'E'_  either."

"Well," Ron said," He never exceeds  _my_  expectations so I guess there's always hope." His grin faded from his face. "Bugger all! I can't believe we have to sit another year with The Great Git! Three pages of parchment as well!"

"Poor Neville," Hermione added softly.

  

*****

 

 

The next day was Ginny's fifteenth birthday, and Harry spent the entire day nervously anticipating her reception of his present. A few weeks back he would have been confident of her response; now, after days spent in polite silence, he could only hope that she would not throw it at him. After Ron had gone down for breakfast, he had taken the package out from his trunk where he had hidden it, and did the best job he could wrapping it in the pretty paper Tonks had thoughtfully provided. He spent the rest of the day with Ron and Hermione trying to work on his potions homework, but was unable to concentrate on his studies. He excused himself late that afternoon to go feed Buckbeak, and stayed up there grooming the beast until he heard Ron call him for dinner.

Harry made his way down to the kitchen, to find that Tonks and the twins had arrived and were talking animatedly to Remus while Molly put the final items on the table. Ron and Hermione were bickering good-naturedly, and Ginny was smiling at something her father had just said to her. It was a comforting sight, and he felt silly for hiding out alone all afternoon.

"Bill's on duty tonight…" Mrs.Weasley said.

"Duty for what?" Ron asked quickly.

"…But he owled his present over earlier," finished his mother, who deftly ignored his question. "So, since we're all here, let's eat."

Dinner was wonderful as usual, and afterwards they all retreated upstairs to the drawing room to open Ginny's presents. Harry felt his stomach begin to knot up again.

' _Why didn't I just buy her a box of chocolate frogs as usual?'_  he thought to himself.

His present was sure to draw attention--attention he really didn't want to deal with, especially in light of their recent obviously chilly behavior. He knew that Remus, Molly and certainly Hermione and Ron had noticed that he and Ginny weren't quite on the easy terms they had been since his arrival at the house.

Ginny gleefully began opening her presents, squealing with delight at each. Her parents gave her a new set of robes in a soft blue that Harry knew she would look lovely in. She had gone through the usual bag of tricks from  _Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes_  from the twins, a small dragon-skin purse sent from Charlie in Romania, a book on hex detection from Bill; sugar quills from Ron and a Muggle fiction novel from Hermione called  _Pride and Prejudice_ , which Hermione assured her she would love. Remus and Tonks had gone together and gotten her a broom repair kit and a handbook entitled,  _Eyes on Your Goal: A Chaser's Guide to Quidditch_. There was one present left, and Ginny announced that she was going to make the most of it.

She began opening the clumsily wrapped present at a snail's pace, and Harry felt his nerves grow ever tighter with the steady motion of her hands.

"C'mon, Gin!" Ron yelled in frustration. "We'll be here until school starts at this rate!"

"Leave her be," Hermione interjected with a grin. "It's _her_ birthday, after all."

Ginny stuck out her tongue at Ron, but moved a bit faster in opening her final present. When she had at last removed the paper and opened the box, she gasped in surprise.

"Harry," she began, her eyes glowing with excitement. Ron interrupted again.

"Is it frogs? Because I call it if there's an Agrippa or Ptolemy card!"

Harry felt himself sink deeper into the couch with embarrassment as Ginny took her present out of the box.

"It's not candy, Ron! It's a camera!" She held it up to reveal a shiny new pocket-sized Muggle camera, before turning to Harry. "How did you know I wanted one?"

He shifted uneasily, all Weasley eyes on him. "You…you mentioned it in your note," he said quietly. She looked back at him in some surprise.

Fred, just as Harry feared, jumped on this bit of information. "NOTE?!" he yelled. "Ickle Ginny's been sending notes to Harry?!"

"Now wait just a minute,  _Young Squire_ ," George said, turning to Harry. "You can't just be showering expensive gifts on our Gin-gin without our approval. And you!" He pointed at Ginny. "Sending Ickle Harrikens love notes, are we?"

"SHUT IT, both of you, or I'll shut it for you!" Ginny warned. The twins only laughed, raising their hands before their faces as if avoiding her notorious bat-bogey hex.

"Boys! In the kitchen, NOW!" Molly ordered, and the twins followed her, making kissing noises and sighs all the way down the hall. Harry felt his face glowing. He looked anywhere but at Ginny, and was surprised to find her suddenly move to sit next to him.

"Thank you, Harry. It's a lovely present. I can't believe you remembered me mentioning a camera."

"Well, now you can capture the moment whenever Ron does something stupid," he said, and they grinned over the shared memory of Ron's ink explosion.

"Hey!" Ron said, vaguely offended. He moved to examine the camera more closely, his good humor immediately restored. "This is wicked, Harry--where'd ya get it? It's much more modern that that great old clunker Colin drags around."

"Will it work though? Hermione asked. "I mean around magic and all-- Muggle electronics don't do well when exposed to magic."

"Yes, I was just wondering the same thing," Mr. Weasley said with a grin. "As head of the  _Office of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts_ , I really ought to object…" he began, but his grin soon broke through the serious demeanor he had tried to maintain.

"But it's not a misuse," Tonks said with a grin at Remus. "It's only been…modified to work in a magic environment. Surely that's allowed--it's not like it's a flying car or anything," she added slyly.

"Ah, well, yes…" Mr. Weasley sputtered. "I think I'll go help Molly and the boys with the tea," he added on his way out of the room.

"I think it's brilliant, Harry," said Ginny. "Thank you."

"Well, go on then," Ron said, "Give it a go. Take a picture of something."

"Since it's Muggle, maybe Hermione should take the first picture," Ginny said. She turned to Harry. "Of  you and I. Since it's _your_ gift and all," she added with a shy smile.

Harry grinned back at her. She had apparently forgiven him. "All right then. After that, Remus and Tonks can show you how to work it."

"Yes, and you need to learn how to make the  _animatus_  solution as well," Hermione said. "Now you two--budge up together on the couch. No, closer…I can't fit you both in that way."

Harry felt his cheeks redden once again as he felt Ginny shift over, her arm pressed up against his. The touch of their bare skin make him shiver. Surely Hermione didn't need to have them sit quite so close, but he kept quiet, enjoying the moment.

"Say  _Cheese_!"

"Why?" asked Ron, puzzled. "What's cheese got to do with anything?"

"Oh, it's a Muggle thing. It means to smile," Hermione answered, her eye pressed to the viewfinder.

"Why not just say  _'Smile'_  then," Ron answered back, which made Harry laugh.

"Got it! That will be very nice, Ginny." "Now I think we should get one of the wizards behind the magic," she added, grinning at Tonks and Remus.

"So long as you don't use it as evidence, " Remus said with a smile, as Tonks parked herself on the arm of his chair and proceeded to change her facial features. When Hermione chided her for moving, she laughed.

"It's going to be a wizard picture, Hermione. It'll move anyway. It'll make a more interesting picture when you develop it," she grinned.

"I think your own face would make an interesting enough picture as is," Harry heard Remus say to her quietly as the others continued talking about the camera's features. Tonks turned a pretty shade of pink, and Harry was sure it was unintentional on her part.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and the twins returned, bearing tea and birthday cake, and after Ginny had been properly serenaded and had blown out her candles, they all had a merry time taking pictures of each other. Remus promised to show Ginny how to develop the photos the next day, and they all sat around talking until everyone was sleepy. As they drifted off to bed, one by one, Harry found that only he and Ginny somehow remained.

"Guess it's time to pack it in," Ginny said with a yawn. "It's been a lovely birthday."

They both got up and made their way out into the hall. Harry felt he should say something--he might not have another chance at being alone with her. As they started up the stairs, he finally made up his mind and reached for her arm as they hit the first landing.

"Look, Gin, about the other day…" Harry began, screwing up his courage.

"No, Harry, it's okay. Forget it. I'm sorry I've been such a crank lately. No worries."

"Friends, then?" he asked hopefully.

Ginny regarded him for a moment, something stirring in her eyes before she smiled and extended her hand. "Friends."

Harry grinned at her and they shook hands. She then did the last thing he expected: she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, before turning and running up the stairs.

Harry stood on the landing in shock, his hand reaching up to touch the spot where her kiss still lingered.


	13. Better Than Birthday Cake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The summer comes to an end as all good things must, but not without a few more misunderstandings...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The distribution of this story is for personal use only. Any other form of distribution is prohibited without the consent of the author. The usual fanfic copyright disclaimers- everyone and everything in here belongs to J.K. Rowling, no money is being made and no infringement is implied. The story itself is mine.

****

The next day Harry and Ginny were back on easy terms.  Nothing was said between them about the kiss, but Harry felt a warm glow whenever Ginny smiled at him.  He found copies of the pictures they had taken the night of Ginny's birthday left on his pillow one night after he went up to prepare for bed. She had obviously managed to develop them properly, as the figures in all the pictures waved merrily back at him. He looked closely at the one of Ginny and himself for a few moments, watching as their photographic selves moved closer to each other on the couch, awkwardly grinning. He reached down to almost touch Ginny's smiling face, and she gave him a little wave. He could swear he could see himself shiver in the picture when she brushed up against his arm, and noticed that Ginny shyly looked up at him when he wasn't aware. He retrieved his photo album from his trunk, and placed the new photos on the blank pages following the pictures of his parents.

They spent the rest of their time left on holiday relaxing as much as possible when not preparing for the new term or helping Mrs. Weasley keep back the seemingly ever-encroaching dust and pests. Harry had offered to start preparing another room for painting, but Remus had refused to allow it.

"There'll be time enough in future to work on the old place. I think you have enough to deal with considering Professor Snape's homework," he added with a grin. Hermione forced them to spend some part of each day in the dusty old library doing research for their essays until they were finally finished. Remus, while not exactly helping them, did look them over and pronounced them well written and detailed enough to keep Snape off their backs.

Mrs. Weasley and Remus went to Diagon Alley the last week before start of term and brought home their school things. Disappointed as he was not to be able to do his own shopping or visit the twins' new premises, Harry tried to maintain a better humor than he had the previous summer when denied his freedom. A week before they were to go back to school, Bill arrived to take Buckbeak off to The Burrow.

"We've finished with the new wards, and Charlie's sent me instructions on how to set him up so he'll be comfortable," he said. "You'd best see if you can bring him downstairs, Harry. He knows you the best out of all of us. I'll be taking him home tonight, after it's dark. No sense in trying to fly a hippogriff about in broad daylight, even if we  _disallusion_ him."

Harry spent that afternoon grooming Buckbeak, talking to him as he worked. "Bill's come to take you away from here. I know you'll be very happy in your new home," he said softly, while brushing Buckbeak's coat to a glossy sheen. "Hagrid will try to come and visit you during the holidays--you'll like that, won't you?"

Buckbeak squawked what Harry could only assume was some sort of acknowledgement.

"The Weasleys will take good care of you, and we'll all be by to see you when we can," Harry continued. "You must mind the wards, and try to stay out of trouble. The fresh air will do you good," he said, trying to make himself feel better. He suddenly felt very sad at the thought of Buckbeak leaving the house. "Sirius wouldn't want you to stay cooped up in here, after all. You both were meant to be free."

Buckbeak nuzzled Harry, and crooned in a reassuring sort of way. He then allowed Harry to slip a rope over his head and lead him out into the hall and slowly down the staircase. At the foot of the stairs stood Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Bill. They each bowed low to Buckbeak, who acknowledged them with a bow of his own great head. Ginny and Hermione stepped forward to rub his feathers, and Bill took the rope from Harry.

"The twins and I'll be taking turns keeping an eye on him until Mum and Dad come home to the Burrow, so don't fear," he said, giving Buckbeak a brief rub on his beak. He moved to glance out of the windows. "It's getting dark out--I'd best be off."

"Goodbye, Buckbeak" Harry heard first Ginny then Hermione say softly.

"Bye, Beaky," Ron added. "Keep after those gnomes, eh?"

Harry didn't say anything, just nodded and gave him a final pat, then stepped back.

Bill stepped up to the beast and raised his wand,  _disallusioning_  first Buckbeak then himself.  It was rather disconcerting to only hear them make their way down the hall, then see the door open by itself.

"We're clear," Bill called back softly, and Harry stood in the doorway for a moment, looking out into the gathering dark, before closing it after them. When all the locks slid back into place, he turned to face the others. They all looked depressed.

"Game of snap, then?" Ron asked, trying to shake them out of their gloom.

"Brilliant," Harry answered.

***** 

 

The final days before their departure were spent in the usual flurry of chaotic activity. The only respite this year was that Fred and George weren't either blowing things up or levitating their trunks around. Ron and Harry were futilely trying to pack their trunks in some kind of order when Ginny appeared bearing piles of clean laundry. She dumped it all onto Harry's bed, and proceeded to sort it into two piles. Harry felt his stomach drop when he realized that the pile also held some of his  _personal items._ He tried to make a grab for them, but Ginny batted his hand away.

"You're too late," she said. "I've already seen them. Mum needed help with the laundry and I volunteered," she added with a sly smile.

Harry closed his eyes in embarrassment as Ron, curious at Ginny's statement, now came over and started rifling through the pile of boxers, laughing in realization at the more outrageous prints.

"Tonks bought these for you?" he asked with glee, waving a pair of boxers emblazoned with the Union Jack.

"I especially like the mermaids," Ginny added, finding that pair and holding them up, her eyes sparkling with mischief. Harry snatched them away and tossed the entire pile into his trunk.

"Not a word, Weasley," he warned.

"Cross my heart," she said, still grinning madly.

"I make no promises," Ron laughed. "Besides, we've mates in the dorm that are bound to see them, and I don't think you'll be able to shut that lot up."

"I think you should wear them proudly," Ginny said. "I think every boy in Gryffindor will be jealous to know you've got a young pretty witch buying you boxers, after all."

Ron laughed, and although his cheeks stayed flushed, Harry was able to meet her eyes and smile. When Hermione came in a few moments later and inquired as to the joke, Ron could only snort with laughter and Ginny refused to answer, saying only that she was bound not to reveal _The Great Harry Potter's_ secrets.

  

*****

 

September the first finally dawned, and they were all up early for the usual final flurry of activity in preparation for their journey back to Hogwarts. Harry and Ron dragged their trunks downstairs, and were just finishing dragging Hermione's and Ginny's down as well when Harry heard his name.

"Harry! A moment please," Remus called, then motioned him into the drawing room and closed the door against the chaos in the hall. "I have a few things to discuss with you." He moved to lean against the back of the couch, and Harry perched on the arm of a chair opposite. "First off, this is for you. I have an idea that Sirius may have given you one of these last term, but as I can't find its mate, I thought I would charm two more." He extended his hand, and held out a small square mirror. Harry felt his stomach drop out, and a wave of guilt and sorrow washed over him.

"Yeah, I know what it is… _now_ ," he barely choked out. "The pieces are in my trunk."

Remus, seeing his reaction, closed his eyes. "I'm _so_ sorry, Harry. He should have explained…"

"I never opened the package until it was too late," Harry whispered, closing his own eyes against the tears that threatened to well up. He felt Remus place his hand on his shoulder and give him a brief squeeze.

"I know it's painful, but it  _is_  the fastest way to contact me. I will always have the mate with me, count on it. If you need me, just call my name. For anything--not just emergencies, okay?"

"Okay," Harry responded in a dull voice, opening his eyes now that he had succeeded in holding back his tears.

Remus eyed him carefully, before nodding. He let out a deep breath, then continued. "For emergencies, I have this," Remus said, his hand once again extended. Harry took what appeared to be a silver i.d. bracelet from him.

"I thought you might like to have this anyway," Remus said softly. "I found it upstairs while I was cleaning. I expect he left it behind when he ran away all those years ago, but I remember him wearing it at school."

Harry turned it over, and saw etched onto the nameplate, in very fine engraving,  _Sirius Black._ He felt the knot in his chest grow even tighter, and could only nod.

"Professor Dumbledore's turned it into a port key for emergency use, Harry. Wear it always, and if you find yourself in a dire emergency, such as what happened after the Tri-Wizard tournament, you need only place your thumb over the engraving, and say  _'Grimmauld Place'_  and it will bring you directly here."

"How were you able…" Harry began, in an effort to distract himself from his emotions, while he fumbled with the catch as he placed it around his wrist.

"It's platinum, not silver," Remus replied with a smile. "Nothing but the very best for  _The Heir to The Noble House of Black_ ," he added with a smirk. "Sirius and I used to laugh that we should make it into a dog tag, and add,  _'If lost, call Remus Lupin or James Potter_ …it's what gave me the idea to use it as a portkey actually."

Harry managed a brief smile at that, and Remus returned his grin. "Let me know if you need anything, and try to keep in touch. If you'd rather write, just be careful about what you say--I can't guarantee the safety of the post any more this year than last, but I think that Hedwig should at least be a great deal safer than she was last year with Umbridge gone from the school."

From the hallway they could hear Mrs. Weasley yelling and the noise of several people thundering downstairs while the door slammed shut.

"Well, we'd best be off. You and Hermione are to come with Tonks and I this year; Ron and Ginny will follow with their parents. Keep a sharp eye out until you get to Hogwarts, and an _even sharper eye out there_ this term."

"Constant Vigilance!" Harry said, and Remus laughed as they made their way out into the bustling hall. Harry took Hedwig's cage from Ginny; Hermione and Ron were busy trying to stuff a squirming Crookshanks into his basket.

"All set?" Remus asked the general crowd and they all nodded. "Trunks already in the cars? Good. Hermione, you and Harry are coming first." He opened the door and led Hermione out, but Harry paused, taking one last look at the now bright and cheerful entrance hall, before following.

"See you at King's Cross," Ron said cheerfully, and Ginny waved goodbye as they moved off toward the car Mr. Weasley was waiting in at the curb. Harry decided he didn't want to know where he had gotten it.

Tonks was waiting at the passenger door of a second car, and motioned them in with a flourish. "Ladies and Gentleman, My name is Tonks, and I'll be your driver this morning," she announced, grinning from under the black chauffeur's hat she had jauntily cocked on her head.

"Less show, more movement, Nymphadora," Remus said, glancing warily around the street.

"Right-O, Capt'n," she replied, then quickly jumped into the driver's seat. The drive to King's Cross was uneventful, and they soon made their way, luggage trolleys clattering in front, toward the entrance to Platform 9 3/4.

Harry was glad to see Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt waiting on the platform once they had passed through the barrier.

"All clear," growled Moody, "But you'd best be getting' on quick-like. Aurors have been all through the train, but I'd rather you get out of the open here," he finished, his magical eye continually rolling around in his head as he spoke.

Ron and Ginny soon arrived behind them through the gate, and there was a general crush of hugs and goodbyes from the Weasleys before they were shoved toward the carriage entrance by Mad-Eye. Lupin followed, and Harry shook his hand before he stepped onto the train.

"Take care," Remus said simply, and smiled, stepping back from the train. Several of the older students hailed him from the windows of their compartments, and he waved back, but was soon lost in the crowd of people waving goodbye. Harry grinned as he saw Tonks waving her hat in the air, before she too vanished. Only the red hair of the Weasleys was still visible as the train started to pull out of the station, and Harry waved in their general direction, before he lost sight of them as well. He started to move along the train corridor in one direction, and Ron and Hermione started off in the opposite one toward the Prefects' Compartment.

"We'll meet up with you later." Ron said, adjusting his prefect's badge and following Hermione down the corridor, Pig squawking excitedly from his cage all the way down the passage.

"See you later," Hermione called. "Save us seats!"

"Fine," Harry called. "We'll head for the back of the train." He helped Ginny adjust her trunk, and began dragging his own down the train passage, stopping often to wave hello to the many people who called out to them. Luckily most of the compartments were full, and he hoped that he would be able to snag an empty one at the back and avoid having to make small talk with anyone. He suddenly realized that perhaps Ginny would rather sit with some of her other friends. Or maybe Dean.

"Um, Ginny?" he said, pausing a moment.

"Yeah, Harry?"

"If you want to sit anywhere else, don't feel you have to sit with me---I mean us," he stammered.

She looked at him cautiously. "Would you rather I sit somewhere else?"

"No," he said quickly, "I just meant if, er, well, you wanted to look for anyone particular…" he trailed off, feeling a bit flushed.

"No," she replied with a slight smile, "I'd rather sit with you…and Ron and Hermione when they come back." She looked in another full compartment. "That is, if we can find an empty one."

Harry hoisted Hedwig's cage, grabbed his trunk handle and started down the corridor again, smiling to himself. His smile died several compartments down when he glanced in what appeared to be an empty compartment, only to see Dean and Parvarti in a lip lock in the corner.

' _Damn!'_  he thought worriedly,  _'Just what Ginny needs to see...'_  He turned around quickly and started talking to her once again to distract her attention. Babbling more than talking, he began talking excitedly about the coming Quidditch season.  _'Only a few more steps,'_  he thought, and Ginny would be past the window and wouldn't have to see her new romantic hopes dashed by what he had seen.

' _Not that I want her to be with anyone else--STOP THAT!'_  he thought irritably. Harry felt himself becoming angry on Ginny's behalf. He found that while his mouth babbled on about strategies, his mind was racing about Ginny. ' _Had she and Dean ever had any kind of understanding? Had he ever said anything to encourage her, or was she just interested in him?'_ he thought miserably. After all, neither he nor Ron had ever realized last year that Ginny even  _had_  a boyfriend until Hermione told them. He racked his brain trying to remember any flirting between the two, but couldn't.

"Arrgh," he blurted out, annoyed at himself when his imagination supplied offending mental pictures.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked.

Harry turned his head, said quickly "I'm fine. Just banged my finger…on Hedwig's cage."

He stopped abruptly, as there was an empty compartment on their left. "Here we go,' he said, sliding the door open and pulling his trunk in. He helped Ginny hoist her trunk onto the luggage rack, and when they had settled Hedwig, they collapsed opposite each other next to the window.

Harry sat, pretending to look out the window at the passing scenery, but actually watching Ginny through the window reflection. She looked so pretty sitting there in the sun, excited and eager for the new term to begin. He felt his heart sink when he realized how disappointed she would be when she found out about Dean and Parvati, and he glanced away, his eyes unfocused on the compartment.

"You're going to unravel that jumper," she said, breaking their silence.

Harry looked down to find that he had been worrying a loose yarn along the hem. He dropped it quickly.

"Harry, what's wrong?" she said quietly, tilting her head to try and catch his eye.

She moved closer to the edge of her seat. Harry suddenly became aware that her knees were uncomfortably close to his own. He began fidgeting with the yarn again. "Nothing," he lied, forcing a smile on his face.

 _"Harry,"_ she said, sounding eerily like Hermione when she was trying to wheedle information out of him, "I know something's wrong. You were fine until we got on board. What is it?"

Harry glanced up and instantly regretted it, as he found himself staring into her dark eyes. "Nothing," he insisted, hoping she would buy it.

"Did you see Cho? Is she with Michael? Are you upset?"

"No, it's not me- I mean, not her I saw-I mean, I'm not upset," he stammered.

"Someone else then? Is it about…Dean and Parvati?" she said slowly, watching his expression. "That _was_ quite a show," she added.  She must have noticed the flicker of embarrassment in his eyes, and did the last thing he expected. She smiled.

Harry found himself inching forward on his chair. "You don't mind?" he asked incredulously. "But I thought…I mean, after what you said last spring…"

"Oh! That's why you were babbling on and on about Quidditch!" Her smile widened. "I said  _I'd_  chosen Dean," she began, "I never said  _he'd_  chosen me." She reached out and took his hand. "I only said it to annoy Ron," she added softly, and Harry felt the skin of his hand tingle with electricity where she held it. "Did you think all summer…" she began to ask, before pausing.

"Um, yeah. Well…" he stammered, his mind a blank from her touch. Their knees were brushing now, and he knew he was crimson.

"Harry, that was very sweet of you to try and protect me-- to try and hide it from me. Thank you. But I'm a big girl--I can look after myself."

He met her eyes, his heart pounding at their proximity. Everything he had told himself all summer; that he couldn't risk having feelings about her, that it would only expose her to Voldemort, that Ron might not like it, all vanished from his mind. There was only Ginny's face inches from his own now, and unlike what had happened with Cho last year, he knew exactly what he wanted.

The train suddenly lurched, and Harry, perched on the edge of the seat, lost his balance and fell forward, banging his head against Ginny's forehead and sending them both crashing to the floor.

They looked at each other, shocked, then began laughing. "We do seem to spend an awful lot of time crashing into each other," Ginny managed finally.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked, reaching over to rub the red mark now starting to bloom on her forehead. He suddenly realized what he was doing and pulled his hand back. Ginny caught it and held it. "I'm fine," she said softly.

Harry, never taking his eyes from hers, leaned forward, hesitated, then, before he lost his nerve, kissed her gently.

This was nothing like Cho's kiss; this was electric. This was better than his first letter from Hogwarts, better than flying, better than birthday cake.

He pulled back reluctantly, met her eyes and her shy smile with one of his own and, feeling suddenly brave, reached up to caress her cheek. He slipped his fingers into the silky red strands he had so longed to touch, and pulled her closer, kissing her again, this time more insistently. Every nerve in his body felt on fire. He felt Ginny's fingers curl around the back of his head, twisting through his already rumpled hair, and their kiss deepened. Her lips parted under his own, and he was lost.

When they finally parted, breathless, he could only stare at her in amazement. She was glowing, and more beautiful than he had ever realized. He reached out to touch her face again, then pulled his hand sharply back. All the old emotions and fears came tumbling back. If he loved her, she would be a target.  _'I have to stop this, now!'_  he thought fiercely.

"I can't," he stammered, "We can't….' The thought of losing Ginny was more than he could bear. He pulled back as far as he could against his seat.

"Harry?" she began, searching his eyes, fear tingeing her own.

He looked away and tried to get up, but Ginny grabbed his arm.

"Harry, what? What is it?"

"I can't risk it," he managed, his mind racing. "I can't risk  _you."_

"Harry, look at me," Ginny said so seriously that he was forced to meet her eyes. As if reading his mind, she continued. "Voldemort _already_ knows about me. He… _Tom_ … knew how I felt about you. I'm already at risk-I have been for years." She looked sadly away. "Remember when I told you that I wasn't sleeping? Those dreams… I spoke to Professor Dumbledore. He's…concerned. He sent me a note with our booklists. He's going to arrange Occlumency lessons for me as well as you this year."

Harry swung his head up in alarm. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you have enough to deal with. I didn't know how you felt- I was sure you would never be … _interested_ in me. But there were times this summer…" she trailed off shyly. She raised her eyes to his again. "I didn't want you to be afraid for me, thinking anything that happens to me is your fault."

"Ginny…"

"Not all scars are visible, Harry," she said, reaching up and tracing the mark half hidden by his fringe. "Tom's possession apparently also…marked me… and Dumbledore is concerned that he may try to get in my head the same way he did with you," she added bitterly.

"Ginny," Harry breathed, his mind a whirl of emotion and fear.

"Harry," she began softly, taking his hand, "I want this…I want this chance to be happy. To make you happy. You  _deserve_  to be happy. I worked too hard to get free from… _Him_ …the last time--I'm not giving up the rest of my life, and I'm certainly not giving up  _you_  now that I finally have a chance."

She leaned in to kiss him gently, and Harry felt his reserves melt away. He took her in his arms a bit awkwardly and kissed her back, answering her need with his own. He wasn't sure how much of a chance they actually had with the prophecy hanging over his head, and he was still terrified for her, but couldn't resist her. He wondered vaguely if this was how his parents had felt during the war. He closed his eyes and hugged her tightly, not wanting to ever let her go.

A thrill went through him as her heard her whisper in his ear, "I've waited years for you to come to your senses, Harry Potter."

Suddenly they heard voices outside the compartment, and wrenched quickly apart. Harry helped Ginny up, and they sat back down on the opposite seats, trying not to look flustered as they realized it was Ron and Hermione coming to look for them. It seemed an unspoken agreement that the feelings they had only just discovered should stay between themselves for the moment.

"Harry," Ginny whispered, leaning forward, "You do realize that if we have the, um,  _proper motivation_ , Occlumency lessons will be much easier."

Harry grinned back at her, amazed at her courage and spunk. He risked a quick squeeze of her hand before releasing her and tried to look pleased that Hermione was waving at them as Ron slid the door open. They were followed by Neville and Luna, and Harry knew that there would be no more chances to be alone with Ginny for the rest of the journey.

  

******

 

A few hours later, Ron lay snoring in one end of the compartment, Neville and Luna were intent on an article in the new edition of  _The Quibbler_  and Hermione had gone off to the loo. Harry glanced up from his copy of  _Quidditch Quarterly_  to see Ginny grinning at him. She suddenly tossed something at him, and he caught it without his eyes leaving hers.

Looking at her with a puzzled grin, he unfolded the tiny bit of parchment.

 

_By the way, you look awfully good in just a towel._

He choked, turned crimson, and shoved the note out of sight into his pocket as Ron startled awake.

"You okay?' he asked sleepily.

"Yeah, fine," he managed, trying to regain his composure. Ginny sat curled up in her seat pretending to be very interested in her copy of  _Which Broomstick?_ Harry decided that he would have to find a way to make her pay for her teasing, and pleasantly occupied himself with various scenarios until Ron stretched and asked him for a game of chess.

He met Ginny's eyes once again while Ron was busy getting the pieces out of his trunk.  _'Yes,'_  he thought, grinning foolishly, ' _this year might not be all bad after all...'_

**~Fin.~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, we come to the end of the fic that felt like it would never end when I was writing it. Now I'm kind of sorry it wasn't longer, lol ;o) I'd like to once again thank my original beta reader and everyone who left me such encouraging reviews while it was being written. I hope everyone still reading it here enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. I am honestly astounded at the number of hits and thankful for those who commented and left kudos! Cheers!


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